Test Me, Try Me

Psalm 26: 2

Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind. 

King David wrote this Psalm, and asked God to be his examiner. David really wanted to do things God's way, and he knew that he didn't always do that. So he wanted God to judge him now, so he could change his ways when he needed to. 

This is like a seed that David thought on for a long time. He later wrote Psalm 139, which is all about God's greatness, and he ends it with this more familiar and more complete thought:

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139: 23-24.)

I understand David's thinking here, and this is also my prayer. I would much rather God judge me now, showing me what I'm doing wrong, so that I can change my thinking processes in renewing my mind (Romans 12:2) so that the words and actions that come out of my heart will be according to God's way for me, not what I want to do. 

Like David, I realize that I also make mistakes. I also am vulnerable to taking things into my own hands and making a mess of it. And how much better it is all around to just cooperate with how God designed this World to work, and do things His way in the first place. 

But to know how to do all that, I need to know God. He is the Source. He is the Life I need to live, He is the Light that gave light to the Sun. He is the Love that put the order into the Universe. He is our standard for Beauty and Right. 

But we live in a broken World. Our environment has been polluted, being cursed by sin, and our DNA has been corrupted, and our enemy the Devil is also trying to destroy us. 

So we must defend ourselves from the World's ways, the enemy's ways, and our own flesh body we live in. It seems like everything's against us. 

That's why we're all desperate for God, whether we realize it or not. We all need to know Him to know that we can trust Him to be our kind, gentle, compassionate Father and Teacher and Mentor. The better we know Him, the more we are able to trust Him with our deepest selves. 

So I want God to examine me. I want Him to see my deepest secrets that I'm hiding from myself; to expose them so I can know myself, and confess and forsake every thought, every attitude, every passion that is not in alignment with His ways for me. 

Then I will be able to live my life according to the way He wants me to, and He will be pleased, just like a good parent is pleased with their successful child. I want Him to smile upon me, and take pleasure in what I do. 

So I depend on His Holy Spirit in me to lead me, to guide me into the footsteps of Jesus, not turning to the right or to the left, not running ahead or lagging behind, not pulling away or wandering off. That straight, hemmed in path that leads to everlasting enjoyments (see Matthew 7:14). 

Then I will spend eternity with Him, with the Source of all that is good and desirable and enjoyable. Without Him there is no light, only darkness; no truth, only deception; no pleasantries, only hardships. No order, only chaos; no love, only hatred; no pleasure, only pain. 

God wants to be good to all He has made, but He will not force Himself on anyone. Whoever would rather be deceived, God will allow them to believe lies. Whoever wants to do his own will, God will let him. He gave us a freedom of will, to choose for ourselves, and He will not interfere with that. (See Romans 1:18-32.)

But to all who want to know the Truth, He will teach them. All who want to know a better way, He will lead them. He is not willing that any would perish, but that all would come to repentance, to realize that their own way is not really what they want after all, and that they deserve death for their rebellion against what is right. (See II Peter 3:9.) To repent is to turn around. 

When I realized that the religion I grew up in was not "working" for me, I went on a search for the "Truth." It didn't matter to me what that "Truth" would be, I just wanted to know it so I could believe it and not be deceived. 

God honored that by letting me investigate several "truth systems," knowing how seductive they could be, but none of them convinced me. Then He brought me back to the "hub of the wheel," and to Himself. He showed me that Jesus took my death sentence for me, in my place; and He freed me from the chains of an addiction I was not able to shake off myself. 

And I learned more of Him as time went on. Jesus is the Truth I had been seeking, and He is the Life I could never live until then. And He is the only Way to the Father, the only path that leads to Him. That is the path I am walking on now. 

God has been so good to me; the more I run to Him, the more I curl up in His lap and let Him love me, then the more He reveals Himself and His ways to me. 

So I want Him to clean out from my heart everything that interferes with His perfect, pure ways. This process is called Sanctification, and it will continue until Jesus returns (see Romans 8:23). That's when our carnal bodies will be changed into spiritual bodies, and we will be adults in God's family, fully responsible for helping Him run His Family Business, the Kingdom. 

Until then we still live in our mortal flesh, so we need to watch out for all the things we are vulnerable to here. And continually ask Him to test and try us to reveal whatever else is still lurking in the recesses of our beings. 

O my Father, try me, examine my heart and my mind. Expose anything there that needs to be cleansed and healed. 

Create in me a clean heart, O Lord, and a right mind; renew my thinking that I may think Your thoughts, not mine. 

O my Father, Your ways are not our ways, nor are Your thoughts our thoughts. Teach me Your ways, my Father, and Your thoughts. Keep my feet on Your straight path, not turning to the right or to the left. 

And may I forever give You all the praise, all the glory, all the honor, all the blessings, forever and ever, Amen!

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Who May Live With God?

Psalm 15

V. 1. Lord, who may dwell in Your sanctuary? Who may live on Your holy mountain?

What kind of person will the Lord allow to live with Him in His holy dwelling?

V. 2. The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the Truth from their heart;

The one whose character is beyond reproach, who can be counted on to hold to their integrity regardless of the situation. Whose heart is filled with Truth that overflows out their mouth. 

V. 3. Whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to his neighbor, and casts no slur on others;

One who never speaks negatively of another, who treats their neighbor with kindness and never mentions what they don't approve of.

V. 4. Who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the Lord;

Who may be disgusted with an evil lifestyle, but looks for the good in each person, and encourages those who have respect for God.

Who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind;

Who always does what they say they will do, and never goes back on their word no matter what it costs to keep it.

V. 5. Who lends money to the poor without interest;

To lend to one who cannot repay, and even forgive the loan. 

Who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.

Who won't let something slide if it will benefit them but not consider the other person. 

Whoever does these things will never be shaken.

Whoever has this high quality of character will have victory over all kinds of adverse circumstances, allowing them to bounce back even higher. 

O my father, thank You for Your faithfulness to Your Word, and Your great mercies to relent from giving us our fair punishment, laying it on Your Son instead; and Your boundless grace to gift us with every good thing we could never earn or deserve. 

Father, Your character is what we saw in Jesus, always doing good and encouraging the poor and infirm and disabled. Each person is precious to You, my Lord; every human being You made in Your own image and likeness. No matter how we degrade and denounce ourselves as a race of man, we cannot erradicate or obliterate Your image in us. Even the worst of us still retains Your likeness, even as we twist and uglify the beauty You placed in each of us.

Help us, Father. Teach us Your ways. Show us our great worth to You, as well as our unworthiness of Your attention. Keep us humble before You, as we realize how much You value each of us. 

Help me, Father, to have the sterling character of the one in this psalm: to think before I speak, and refrain from saying anything I may not be able to fulfill. And when I do say I'll do something, help me to be faithful to my word, as You are to Yours. Teach me how to transform my mind, to have the mind of Christ, to think His thoughts, and fill my heart with His good Truth and compassion and tenderness and gentleness. 

Continue to work on me and in me, Father, conforming me into the image of Your dear Son, His unassailable character; that those seeing me would not see me, but Christ in me. 

Because for me to live is Christ, for without Christ I am dead. And Christ lives in me in His Holy Spirit, giving me the life I now live. Your breath is in my lungs, as You breathed into Adam's nostrils to give him the breath of life; so I will use the breath of my lungs to give You praise.

And to see You in every other person, and love them with the Love wherewith You have loved me, in the strength and power of Your Spirit in me.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

To Give Account

Matthew 12: 16-17

But I tell you that men will have to give account on the Day of Judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.

Wow, we really must be aware of what we're saying all the time. 

My late husband had a horrible potty mouth before God found him, and that was helped the next morning after he was saved. But, decades later, when he was the president of his own company, conversing with other business heads about the machinery they needed, when he went on automatic, those words would slip out without his notice. When I called his attention to it, it was a big surprise to him! 

We all need to pay attention to the words and attitudes we allow to escape from our mouths. Especially if we were saved later, after childhood, after we created bad habits. 

It's not easy to pause in the heat of a passionate exchange to think about the words we are about to use in defense of our position. Even if the other party is attacking our persons and personalities, we must take the higher ground and stick to the issue with pure language. 

O my Father, please continue to help me, teach me to put a guard on my mouth and tongue, to carefully consider the words of my lips, before I say them. 

Keep me mindful, Father, of Your ways and Your way of seeing things. Give me Your eyes to see, Your ears to hear, and Your understanding to perceive the events of my life according to Your Truth.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Salted Conversation

Colossians 4: 6

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Conversation refers to our words, how we talk to one another. Words have great power--God's Word created, and our words are either life or death. 

So we must remember God's grace that He gave us in Christ, and extend it to our hearers. Grace, the good we do not deserve. 

Seasoned with salt--not only to enhance flavor, but also to preserve. 

So we need to think about how our words will be heard. Are we encouraging or discouraging others? Are we fracturing or healing our relationships? 

O my Father, please give me Your words; let me see others through Your eyes of mercy and grace; help me hear with Your understanding to perceive the wounds and hurts behind the words. Please teach me discernment between honesty and deception. 

Please teach me how to heal my family, or keep me out of Your way as You work as our Great Physician. Heal our relationships, and grant repentance to those who do not know You yet. Defeat our enemy's destructive tactics to splinter my family, and draw us all to Yourself. 

And You will receive all the glory and honor and praise for everything You have done in weaving Your great and beautiful Tapestry of Time. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Have Zeal, Be Hasty?

Proverbs 19: 2

It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.

Proverbs is such a good book of how to get along in this World. It has 31 chapters, just right for reading a chapter a day each month. 

Each chapter has so much advice, as I read it every month I get more insight that I never noticed before. 

This verse says that enthusiasm does no good if I don't know what I'm doing. And when I'm in a hurry is when I make mistakes and have accidents. 

So, for instance, I make it a point to never be in a hurry when I'm driving. I just remind myself that, even if the time seems not enough for the journey, I trust that I will get there in God's time, because He's never too early or late. So I have on occasion arrived just in time to be fashionably late. But I didn't miss anything I needed. 

This zeal without knowledge thing, though; how do I know when my knowledge is sufficient, before my zeal has waned? 

When I get excited about something and then try to do something about it right away, that can be a test to see if I'll have the patience and perseverance to do it right. I don't want to go off half-cocked, that results in a mis-fire. But I do need to do something, to begin the momentum, and as I proceed I learn more about what needs to be done and how to do it. Or I'll meet someone who knows. I just don't want to be in a hurry. 

O my Father, I pray that You would teach me more and more of Your ways, more and more understanding of Your rules, so that I will do the things You planned long ago for me to accomplish, the way You want them done. 

And whatever I accomplish, Father, keep me mindful that I can do nothing of myself, only in the power and wisdom of Your Spirit can I do anything at all. 

Thank You for all that You have given me so far, You have been so generous with me in all that You have enabled me to enjoy. 

Father, continue to help me, continue to teach me new things: new things in Your Word, new things I can do, new places I can go, new people to meet, new things to accomplish for the furtherance and promotion of Your Kingdom. 

Send out workers into Your fields, Father; send out Your Word throughout all the World to find all Your lost sheep, from every tribe and every language and every people group; and draw them all into the safety of the fold. Your Word will not return to You without accomplishing the purpose to which You sent it (Isaiah 55:11), to draw to Yourself all those whom You have chosen.

May all Your flocks all over the World come together into one fold in unity, Father, as Jesus prayed (in John 17:11, 21-23). And may You be pleased and take pleasure in all You have accomplished. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Wisdom And Fools

Proverbs 16: 21, 23

The wise in heart are called discerning, and pleasant words [make one pursuasive in] promot[ing] insruction.
A wise man's heart guides his mouth, and [makes] his lips [pursuasive,] promot[ing] instruction.

If I want to have any influence in others' lives, if I want to show how beautiful and wonderful our God is to the World; then I need to have wisdom. Not the world's wisdom, but true wisdom from the Designer and Maker of this realm. 

Proverbs 9:10: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of the holy [One] is understanding.

So I must have reverential respect (fear) for the Lord God, then I will begin to understand the wise way to go, the words of wisdom I am to speak. Because: 

Psalm 111: 10: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding (or good success) have all they that do His commandments. ...

Just knowing them is not enough. It takes obedience. I must do what He says, if I want to have success in my endeavors. 

Jesus talked about two men who both built houses. Both were building a nice home to live in with their families, to fill with beautiful furniture, etc. But one paid attention to the foundation underneath it, and the other one didn't. So when the storms of life happened to both of them, the one house (life) withstood the tumult, and the other was destroyed (see Matthew 7:24-27; and Luke 6:46-49). 

The foundation upon which we build our lives is the determinate of whether we will succeed in life or be destroyed. Jesus prefaced both tellings of this story with saying that just knowing what He said was the sand under the one house, and obedience to, doing what He commands, is the rock foundation under the other house that withstood the same storms that destroyed the other. 

But I need to remember:

Proverbs 1:7: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; but fools despise wisdom and instruction. 

 The Book of Proverbs uses the word "fool" for a person who is morally deficient, not necessarily mentally deficient. These "fools" can be very highly intelligent, even geniuses, and very talented; but they have no understanding of God's holiness and purity, which we see here as a high moral compass. 

They see nothing wrong with the most depraved and unhealthy lifestyles imaginable; yet judge godly people as hateful for not approving these disgusting acts. They are showing their despising of wisdom and the instruction that would teach them better. 

To deal with these people takes much godly wisdom. Jesus said not to cast our pearls before swine, lest they trample them and turn and attack us (Matthew 7:6), which has happened all too often, as we see in the press. 

But Jude says that we are to save them with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh (Jude 23). If this isn't hating the sin while loving the sinner enough to endanger oneself, I don't know what is. 

So, Father, I need Your wisdom in all that I do and say, whether in this blog or in my spoken words or in my emails and texts. Help me, Father, to think before I speak or type; think how the words I will convey will be received by the hearer. To think about the words I use that they will accurately present Your Truth and Your Love and Your Justice, Your mercies and grace. 

Let me break through the gates of hell that shield my loved ones from understanding Your wonderful ways, Father (Matthew 16:18). Give me pursuasiveness in dealing with them, and the victory in Christ through His precious Blood and my personal testamony of Your goodness to me (Revelation 12:11). 

And may we all bless Your holy Name. May we all worship You in Your holiness and majesty. May we all delight in bowing our knees before Your Throne, my God and my King and my Lord. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Desiderata

Romans 12: 18

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 

Well, this is the kicker. As far as it depends on me! I need to watch myself, I need to be the one who is in control of myself, because I certainly cannot control anyone else. 

I need to take great care with my words, to use words of Life; encouragement, appreciation. Not words of death; criticism, complaint, condemnation. 

My attitudes toward others need to consider what is good and pleasant and desirable in each one, not what I disagree with. 

O my Father, help me see others with Your eyes, show me Your image in even those who are running from You and Your ways. Let me perceive the beauty You placed in them in Your likeness. Help me see past the ugliness and harshness and twistedness, to see what You see in them. 

Then, Father, let me share Your words with them, Your words of hope, of miraculous comebacks, of Life! And work in their hearts, Father, to draw them to Yourself, to turn them around and give them a brand-new life, as You did for Saul of Tarsis, as You did for me! 

You are our God of Miracles! Every time You save someone, it is a miracle of grace! You heal our hearts, our minds, our bodies, when we do things Your way, when we obey what You tell us to do! 

Let me not interfere; keep me out of Your way, my Lord God. Just let me do what You would have me do, and step aside to let You do Your thing. Just let me say what You would have me say, and shut up! 

Then You will receive all the glory, all the honor, all the credit for everything You do. For it is You Who are doing and working out Your great Plan of the Ages using every individual choice, every personal decision of every man and woman. 

As Time marches on, it marches in step with Your timing, Father, to prepare for the culmination of this Age of Man, to march into the Earthly Kingdom of our King of kings and Lord of lords. 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!