“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
At the close of Psalm 139, David prays for God to look at four specific things. The first thing that David prays is for God to search his heart. David prays, Search me, God, and know my heart… Psalm 139:23a
This can be a hard prayer for all of us because the Bible is clear: without Christ, we do not have a good heart. Jeremiah 17:9 says this: The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? Jeremiah 17:9 NLT
We need to understand that without Christ, our heart is not a good heart, that we deceive others, we deceive ourselves. We don’t even know how bad we are.
I’m not full of pride. I can’t help it if I’m better, smarter, whatever than anybody else.”
I don’t lust. I just appreciate a nice, fine physique.
I’m not materialistic. I just need nice things.
I’m not a gossip. I’m just telling people so they can pray for all these people who are doing bad things.”
The heart is deceitful above all things, and we need a bold prayer when we go before God and say, “Search my heart, God. Show me what is in there.” When you pray, “Search my heart,” God is going to show you things in your heart that are not pure. God doesn’t do this to be cruel but rather to bring you into deeper intimacy with Him as his Holy Spirit transforms you into the image of Christ. Today, ask God to search you and reveal areas in your heart where you need to take a better look.