LORD. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens."
How very easy it is to lose sight of the Lord in the midst of our hectic lives. You miss
your personal devotions one morning because you're running late, and the next day it
seems just a little bit easier to put them off again. Before you know it, perhaps a whole
week has gone by and you haven't even opened your Bible. Why does it seem to be the
Lord that gets put aside in our busy life, and not something else? It doesn't take long
for our hearts to start to become cold and indifferent to the small still voice of the Lord.
Psalms 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the
heathen, I will be exalted in the earth."
To be able to hear God's voice we have to tune out the noise of the world. This old
world can bring a lot of worry, concern and junk into our heads. We need to learn
to still ourselves and be receptive to the loving voice of our Heavenly Father. We
need to take time to search and try our ways as we read in Lamentations. What are
we searching for? For anything in our lives that is obscuring the Lord.
Psalms 139:23 & 24 "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know
my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way
everlasting."
This prayer of King David in the Psalms is a very specific prayer. He is opening up
his heart to the inspection of God. David wants his heart and thoughts to be in line
with the ways of God. He is asking God to find and cleanse him of any wicked ways.
Are we willing to pray a prayer like this? This prayer is a prayer of total surrender
to the Lord. If we want fellowship with God, then we must be willing to let Him have
His way with us.
Psalms 66:18 "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me."
Are you playing with sin? This is why David asked the Lord to try him and know
his thoughts. The word regard means to "consider, observe or gaze." This verse
is saying that if I just consider, observe or gaze on sin, the Lord will not hear me!
It is a very slippery slope into the sinkhole of sin. We see the decline in Psalm 1.
"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth
in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful."
You go from observing them, to actually walking along with the ungodly. Before
long you are standing around getting to know them better and before you know it
you are seated with them, partaking of their sinful ways. You don't even know how
you got there, but suddenly you're in the middle of sin, far from God. Their ways
look pleasant and worthwhile, but we are told that the end of their ways is death.
Proverbs 14:12 "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end
thereof are the ways of death."
Are you walking with the ungodly, standing with sinners, or sitting with the scornful?
Take a good look at your situation and how you got here. Its time to ask the Lord to
search you, to know your heart, ways and thoughts. Proverbs 14 verse 14 says that
"The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways:" Our ways are the
ways of death. They are filled with greed, envy, hate, selfishness, evil speaking, pride.
But through Satan's deception we feel that our souls are fine! Proverbs 16:2 "All
the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes:"
Proverbs 14:27 "The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the
snares of death."
God's way is the way of righteousness, truth, humility, love, compassion and honesty
just to name a few. We are to fear the LORD, for it is life to us! Are these things present
in your life? What is your heart in tune with, what does your mind dwell on? Is it the
pleasures of sin for a season that is rooted in your heart and mind, or is it the fear of
the Lord that is your daily bread?
Ephesians 5:7 - 11 "Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were
sometimes darkness, but now are we light in the Lord: walk as children of
light: for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;
proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the
unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them."
We have been saved out of the life of darkness, so why would you want to go back
and fool around with the things of darkness? We are told to walk as children of
light! We are to have no fellowship with sin! If we truly want the Lord to try us,
we must be willing to confess and forsake any of the unfruitful works of darkness
that we have been hiding in our hearts and minds. We find in Ephesians 4:27 that
Paul warns us to, "Neither give place to the devil." When we play around in
the playground of sin, we are giving place to the devil; he moves in and forces the
Lord out. I'm not saying that we lose our salvation, for that can never happen. But
we lose the blessing of fellowship with our Savior, we lose our testimony before the
unsaved, and we lose heavenly rewards because of our unfaithfulness.
Today, won't you tune out the world, and pray with a sincere heart to your Lord,
"Search me O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts: and
see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." God
is waiting with open arms, wanting sweet fellowship with His child. Don't let the
empty promises of the world lure you into a false happiness. True happiness comes
only through a contrite and broken heart, broken before Almighty God.
Psalms 34:18 "the LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart: and
saveth such as be of a contrite spirit."
Jeremiah 17:14 "Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed: save me, and I
shall be saved: for Thou art my praise."
Search me, O God, and know my heart today;
Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts I pray.
See if there be some wicked way in me;
Cleanse me from every sin, and set me free.
I praise Thee, Lord, for cleansing me from sin;
Fulfill Thy Word, and make me pure within,
Fill me with fire, where once I burned with shame;
Grant my desire to magnify Thy name.
Lord, take my life, and make it wholly Thine:
Fill all my heart with Thy great love divine.
Take all my will, my passion, self and pride;
I now surrender, Lord, in me abide.
J. Edwin Orr
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