Wednesday, February 23, 2012 -Under the Microscope

     David opened Psalm 139 by acknowledging the Lord's omniscience: His amazing, all-encompassing knowledge of everything going on at any given millisecond within any cell or on any star in the universe. The Psalmist understood and admitted that God had always been and was continually aware of his habits and thoughts.

You have searched me, LORD, 
   and you know me. 
You know when I sit and when I rise; 
   you perceive my thoughts from afar. 
You discern my going out and my lying down; 
   you are familiar with all my ways. 
Before a word is on my tongue 
   you, LORD, know it completely. 
You hem me in behind and before, 
   and you lay your hand upon me. 
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, 
   too lofty for me to attain.
Psalm 139:1-6
     So why does David end the same Psalm by inviting God to examine his heart?  David wanted God to move beyond knowledge to intervention. The Psalmist crawled under the microscope and voluntarily laid open his mental, emotional and spiritual life to God for evaluation and treatment. 

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; 

try me and know my anxious thoughts; 

and see if there be any hurtful ("wicked," "offensive") way in me." 

Psalm 139:23-24

     These two verses alone explain why David was a man after God's own heart because His servant proved pleasing God was more important to him than fulfilling the minimum requirements.  These final two verses build the bridge between God's knowledge and our acceptance that He can intervene to heal us. David passionately wanted to go beyond  good behavior to having God transform the core of his being. Inviting God to go deep and cut away the roots of anxiety and anything else that displeases Him is the first step to our wholeness and health. 

Notice how the same principle works for a nation:

"If My people, which are called by My name, 

shall humble themselves, 

and pray, 

and seek My face, 

and turn from their wicked ways; 

then will I hear from heaven, 

and will forgive their sin, 

and will heal their land."  

2 Chronicles 7:14

Search us, God, and reveal every unrecognized or unacknowledged sin eating away at our wholeness. I volunteer for this examination and pray for strength to undergo whatever procedures You prescribe. We humble ourselves before You, All-Seeing, All-Powerful Lord, our King and Prince. 

     Keep us from pretending our problems and sin-sickness don't exist. We only complicate and prolong trouble when we ignore symptoms or don't follow Your direction. Help us trust You, Great Physician, to strengthen us through the many surgeries ahead of us as You remove torn fragments of worry and anxiety caused by our disobedience (lack of faith). Settle our minds and hearts in healthy wholeness and give us courage to turn toward a lifestyle of obedience.  

In the Name of Jesus Who taught us to pray humbly for what our Father in heaven already knows we need