Lord, Search My Heart

God can see into the future and knows where our small, everyday choices are taking us. There are many things we do that, to our own eyes, look good and harmless, but they actually have a bad side that will come out one day. We let a hundred little habits form, even though we don’t think they’re dangerous. In the meantime, these habits are sewing together their fine, unseen threads to make a net for our souls or a rope that will one day tie us up hand and foot! We make friends who become very important to us, but who slowly hurt us by taking away from our life’s purpose or pulling us away from God. What’s dangerous about all of these things isn’t so much the things they do or the habits they form, but what they lead to. We can’t see the danger that lies behind these “no harms” in our lives, but God can. He knows what the end result will be. The good things about ourselves are seen through magnifying glasses, and the bad things are seen through lenses that are turned around, making them look very small. We only see the best in ourselves. It’s likely that you wouldn’t know the person God sees you as if you ran into yourself on the street one morning.

Nathan, the prophet, told King David a short story about a rich man who was unfair to a poor man. This story made David very angry. The king yelled, “This man deserves to be executed!” He didn’t see himself in the man he hated until Nathan said in a low voice, “You are the man!”

We all look too much like David, so we should always ask God to search us and forgive any sins we haven’t even thought of.