Search me, O God

Larry Kirkpatrick. Sermon. 9 October 1999. Price Seventh-day Adventist Church

Psalm 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.

Click here for all the graphics in one place

God's Goal For Us

Prayer. Why do we pay so little attention to it? Do we think that we've heard it all before? We do it--we come into contact with God--but what do we expect to happen? Could I suggest that sometimes we have become forgetful of prayer, and maybe we've not given enough thought to what there might be about prayer that we who live at the end of the end must know?

There are some things about us that will only be changed through prayer--Some things that need to be changed. Did you hear the prayer of David? "Search me, O God?" Why was David concerned? Was there something about him that he thought maybe God had missed? Of course not. But still David pleads with his Maker, "Search me, O God." I think that David knew God's goal for him. Surely he knew that God's goal is to not to save man in sin, but from sin (Matthew 1:21). And we know that he knew about God's purpose for his end time people.

No, the book of the Bible that we call the "Revelation" had not been written yet. So we know that David wasn't reading from Revelation 22:11 where it says "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still." And we know that he wasn't reading from Revelation 14:12: "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." And we know that he wasn't reading from Revelation 12:17: "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus." But David understood that people who live for God will be changed people, Which probably accounts for his words in Psalm 17:3: "Thou hast proved mine heart; Thou hast visited me in the night; Thou hast tired me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress."

David Preached the 'Old Theology'

What did David say? That verse we just read could be rephrased like this: "God, You are helping me to grow. In the end, you'll have Your finished work in my life, and I'll be a man who has ceased from sin." David didn't preach the "new theology." He preached the "old theology," the theology that God had from the beginning. When the fall of humankind took place, heaven was ready with a plan that would repair the damage; that would produce a repaired people. So I guess I believe in "old theology," not "new theology."

But that is a pretty tall order, isn't it? God will produce a people, who although born into broken natures that are catastrophically attracted to sin, don't sin. If it's true (and it is), it can only mean one thing: God has alot of work to do! And He has laid some very major claims with His gospel. He claims that it "is the power of God unto salvation" (Romans 1:16). He claims that His righteousness will be revealed in His people through His gospel (Romans 1:17). That being the case, then O yes, God has quite a lot of work to do in us. Satan tells Him "You can't change these people." But God says to the universe, "Watch this!" And then He turns the spotlight on His people. "Here they are," He says, "look at how they live."

When you think of that, do you feel humbled? Do you feel afraid that somehow, He won't be able to do it? What if God showed to us all at once all the places in our lives that He is anxious to repair? Wouldn't we all fall over in hopeless despair? I remember an old pickup truck my neighbor Chris and I worked on when we were 15 or 16 years old. I think that it was a 1962. Let me tell you, it was bondo from front to back; it looked like a leapord. There were alot of rusty spots sanded out, alot of dents hammered out, portions from the junkyard from other vehicles. It looked like a piece of junk. But in the end it was painted up real nice. But see, we still knew what was under that shiny gloss. There was alot of bondo.

Is that the way God is going to deal with us? Cover us over with a shiny coat while underneath we are a broken wreck? Not at all! God is going to repair what is underneath completely too. The shiny coat--the glorified body--will be a complete replacement for this corruptible body. But the shiny coat won't cover one tiny fraction of your character or mine. Our character must be changed here and now. We must become like Jesus here and now. So God has alot of work to do. And the clock is ticking. How long will the universe have to wait until we are changed people, and all the suffering and pain and drudgery of sin's poison can be ended forever?

God's Loving Caution Toward Us

God doesn't show us all of our sins and faults at once. Yes, that probably would vaporize all of our hope. But what if He didn't show them to us at all? Why, Satan would win the great controversy. God would not be able to present to universe a conclusive case that He can change people and make them safe to save.

So he shows us things incrementally, as we are able to handle it. But He never overrides our choices. If we choose idols, He will finally have to say of us, "This one is joined to his idols. Let him be." (Hosea 4:17).

What does all of this mean? It means exactly this: we must be willing to examine ourselves. How can God produce a people who are like Jesus unless there are great changes in us? How can we become like Jesus unless we discover the specific things in us that are unlike Jesus? More specific knowledge of our character deficiencies makes possible more specific action to change them.

Getting Under Our Skin

Who are we? When we pray, "Search me, O God," What are we going to ask Him to do for us? Consider this fact: God knows exactly who and what you and I are. He knows our characters intimately and perfectly. Let's look at these graphics now and see if they can help us get a handle on something. Let's use a circle. Let it represent you, all of you, and more precisely, let it represent all of your character. Now isn't this true, that God knows everything about you? So let's say that all of this circle is open to God. He sees all that there is to see.
Graphic: Circle representing God's total knowledge of our character

Graphic: Circle representing God's total knowledge of our character

Now, in contrast to that, how much do we know about ourselves? Well, we know quite a bit. But we don't know everything, do we? So let's represent that with our circle again: I doubt that we know exactly half and don't know exactly half, but let's just picture it that way for now. Let a vertical line separate the area representing what we do know about ourselves on the left, and what we don't know on the right. And again, there's what other people know about what I am like. Let's represent that too, like this:
Graphic: Circle with verticle split down the middle representing two realms of information about our character, that which we know about ourselves, and that which we don't

Graphic: Circle with verticle split down the middle representing two realms of information about our character, that which we know about ourselves, and that which we don't

Graphic: Circle with horizontal split and space above representing what others know about us, and below the line what they don't

If we overlap these two areas as we've represented them, we come up with an arrangement that shows who knows what. And let's take the same picture and add some dark grey character flaws and sin issues in the life too...
Graphic: Circle split into four quarters overlapping

Graphic: Circle split into four quarters overlapping

Graphic: same as previous circle, but marred with grey blots and scars

Public Repentance

The items in the upper left quarter, the things that both, I know and others know about me, are things that have been revealed and need to be dealt with. These sins and flaws need to be remedied, put away and ended. So the Bible tells us "Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another that ye may be healed" (James 5:16). These are things that we know about, and no one can say that God is unfair in holding us accountable for them. His power is available to us to put them away. No, don't go to some mere human to ask forgiveness of your sins--God alone can forgive. But when you have sinned publically, you need to handle it. You may need to handle it publically.

Christian Brotherhood and Sisterhood

But what about the upper right quarter; things that others know about me that I don't know about me? Friends, have you heard the argument that church is unnecessary? Well, some people need to think again. There may be problems in me that are preventing me from becoming a persuasive copier of Jesus, that I am unaware of. But from week to week at church, some of these issues do become plain to others. And when a brother or a sister is empowered by the grace of Christ--when they can tell me the truth about me in a gentle, non-condemnatory manner, with the oil of grace--I should be thankful, and ready to say "God, please work on this too. I must change."

No, this is not a license for nosey people to gracelessly pry in and be vicious with you. Not at all. Do you know how we know that that's not what it is? See, go back and read Matthew 7:1-5 again. There it says that we need to first make sure that the log is removed from our own eye before we try to take the mote out of someone else's eye. Once the log is removed from our eye, then we will see clearly to remove the mote from their else's eye. And that says in so many words, that anyone who confronts another about their sins needs to be filled with grace and love. "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:1,2). Restore with a spirit of meekness and go the extra mile of gentleness in this.

Personal Confession to God

The bottom left corner of the circle represents those things that we know about ourselves that others really don't. We know about them because the Holy Spirit has brought conviction of sin, of righteousness, and of what is right (John 16:8-10). It is directly to God's ear that we bring our confession, so long as the sins were of the more personal nature. 1 John 1:9 reminds us that "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." God will forgive our sins, but we must confess them. We must confess and forsake (Proverbs 28:13). If we have something here that we aren't letting God take away, then we are in the extreme danger zone of cherishing sin, of loving it. And we can't stay there. We must let it go, we must forsake it, or we will become identified with it, intertwined with it, incapable of responding to the loving call of the Holy Spirit.

If we "regard iniquity" in our hearts, God will not hear us (Psalm 66:18). Is there anything more to be feared than this? That our Maker, who gave His Son to die on the cross for us might know that we are calling on Him, but refuse to answer? Our God is a sin-hating, holy God. He is a consuming fire toward sin (Exodus 32:9, 10; Deuteronomy 9:13-15; Malachi 4:1, 3; Isaiah 33:14; Hebrews 12:29; Revelation 20:9; Habakkuk 1:13). Maybe if our prayers don't seem to be getting answers there is something in the way; something big and ugly and looming over the very existence of our soul. Let us separate from sin now while there is still a moment in time to do it!

Divine Revelation

Friends, all three of the above categories need to be dealt with. But in these three, we have things that either you or your fellow Christians know about, and can gently and prayerfully share with you. But there's that fourth spot on the circle, the lower right quarter, and neither you nor anyone else merely human can get at it. No multi-Ph.D. psychologist, no expert from any field, no, not the most highly-skilled people-person can get behind that wall; only God knows what's there. Only God knows how to reveal it to you and lead you so that it can be changed. Turn with me to Psalm 19:12...
"Who can understand his errors? cleanse Thou me from secret faults."

God is "he that seeth in secret" (Matthew 6:6), and who is so ready to reward us openly. He knows what the plague spots are within us that we do not even know are there. And He wants to heal them.

Have you ever known someone who had some tremendous ailment, and they went to the doctors and they just couldn't figure out what it was that was causing the sickness? We know we have alot of deep troubles and warped spots. And no human physician has a cure for us. But God knows all. We can trust Him to show us what is wrong, and provide the healing balm.

Faith in God Required

When we come to this last darkling quarter of the circle, there is no support, no help, no deliverence, no power, no possible stroke of random good fortune, no, there is no means of cracking the seal loose there, but the change can only come through raw-naked faith in God. He knows what's there. The psychologists of this age don't admit that humans have fallen natures. They assign the cause for every dark eruption from psychotic minds to deep psychological wounds inflicted upon us by our parents, or through other means. They have no place for a human nature that begins by being broken. But the Bible tells us that we begin broken. Our very launching into life puts us on a ripping, searing path toward self-destruction. And God knows it too. And Jesus stands ready to open the gates. He will show us our broken places so that we may be healed. Psalm 118:19 says "Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord." Friends, let us open them and go in! Let's let God take away the stoney heart and give us a heart of flesh. But it isn't just going to happen. We need to pray. We need to say, "Oh, Please God, please work for my soul right now!"

What does the 23rd Psalm say? "He restoreth my soul." Friends, is He restoring your soul? Are you letting Him?

Graphic: summary graphic containing all of the information and some Bible texts for each quarter

God's Searching of Us is Not Passive

Let's go back and finish in Psalm 139 where we began. Friends, look back with me at Psalm 139:23. "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts." Do you see that God's searching of us is not a passive thing on our part? David asks God to search him, but the Hebrew here expresses a parallel thought as it so often does. And what is in parallel to "search me?" It is "test me." "Try me, and know my thoughts." When David asked God to search him, he plead also for God to test him, to refine him, to bring him through a process that would change him, and make him more like His beloved God. He asked his heavenly Father to know his heart and to know his thoughts. he asked God to apply His providential educational process to his thought-life, and to even his emotional-life. And what is our character made up of anyway? Why, it is made up of our thoughts and feelings. David said "God, please shape my character into something that will bring glory to You."

David asked Him in verse 24 to "see if there be any wicked way in me..." Actually, this could also be translated "see if there is any pathway of pain in me..." Check into my most hidden recesses, said David; check the hidden part of my circle. "All of my ways are before you" (Psalm 119:168) said David. He wanted to seek God for all that he, David, was worth. He wanted to want God more.

And don't we want to want God more? Then let's ask Him. Ask Him to open up to us our broken places, so that we to can seek Him with all that we are (not with just three fourths of what we are).

In the bottom of the 24th verse, David pleads in contrast to the wicked way or the pathway of pain, that God will lead him "in the way everlasting." Instead of the pathway of pain, God offers us the pathway of life. He won't just show us what's wrong and then stand there with us in the gloom agreeing that our situation is really bad. No, He restoreth our soul. He'll use His most gentle bedside manner, and be our great physician.

He will heal what is broken in us. He will answer our prayer. But we must personally make that prayer. On this day my brothers and sisters, let us go to our closets, and say,

"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."

Last Modified 23 March 2000