Search Me, Oh God

I listened to Betty Shepherd, the visiting speaker from Australia as she began to talk about what little experience she had with computers. It was comical but very thought provoking how she pointed out that when she would be typing something out, there were times when she would accidentally hit a key on her keyboard and a window would appear in the middle of her screen and she would say, "Oh my goodness! Where in the world did that come from and how do I get rid of it?" Then I laughed as she made the comment, "There are some people out there that know the right buttons to push to set us off, don't they?" She paused then asked, "And how do we react?"

Boy, did this get me thinking! How you ever wondered why things always have to happen over and over again? I have always wondered why I often find myself confronting certain issues over and over again in life.

My husband has a home computer business and he has helped me to become more knowledgeable when it comes to operating a computer. After listening to Betty that morning, it got me thinking about something. On my computer, if I want to locate a certain file, I type in the file name and it shows a little magnifying glass in motion "searching" for that file. Searching, searching, searching...found! Once the file is found, in order to view it, you must click on it to open it up.

This is just how it is in our daily lives: there is a continual "searching" going on. In our past life, we may have encountered some things that caused us pain that may be buried deep inside of us that we have not allowed to surface. Many of us don't know the half of what might be buried deep in side until that "moment of surfacing" comes. The Lord is continually "searching" and "clicking", wanting to heal our wounds from past hurts. This is the working of the Spirit of God which we refer to as sanctification.

The story of Abraham comes to mind. The Lord had told Abraham to go to Mount Moriah to offer up his son, Isaac. He obeyed and just when he was about to plunge the knife into his son, the Lord stopped him and said, "Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me."

There are many times in our life when things happen that God will allow us to go through. Just like with Abraham, it was not so God could see what was in our heart because He already knows. It was to show it to us what is inside that needs to come out. He already knows what is there. Our response to people is what God uses to show us what may be in us that shouldn't be. It is something we can't hide. It shows in our attitude. It shows in our behavior and it can be recognized even by the words we speak.

If you have unforgiveness in your heart, it will show. You will encounter things with people where God wants to teach you forgiveness. This is when we must choose whether we let our flesh reign or will we let the Spirit reign from within us?

David is another one in the Bible that comes to mind. This situation included Saul. Saul was jealous of him and wanted to kill him. God allowed David to come upon the opportunity where he could have taken Saul's life, but he didn't.

God is daily "searching" our hearts. He wants us to have a pure heart and be free of anything that would keep us bound.

In Job 23:10 we read, "But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold."

Whenever a situation arises in your life where it seems like something is trying to surface, let the Spirit in you rise and choose to let it take control so it will result in healing instead of more hurts and pain.

We choose to wear the robe of righteousness or not. Sometimes we take it off depending on the company we are with but we need to become a spiritual force of impact for others to see. Our lives need to stand out in hard circumstances. We need to move into the realm of the Spirit completely controlling us. We are God's message to others.

Our daily prayer should be, "Search me oh Lord, 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" and God will begin to show you things within you that need to be changed. Keep your heart open to Him and listen for His voice for direction and be obedient to what He instructs you to do. Things will begin to change for you and in you. In daily activities of your life, and through happenings and your interaction with others, you'll be able to tell when God is searching your heart and showing you things inside that need to change, lessons you need to learn and principles in His Word that you need to apply to your life.

Be forewarned though that it is not an easy process to go through each day, but you'll begin to know and understand the freedom in Christ that you are to have. You'll begin to understand that afflictions and brokenness are not your enemies, but your friend. You'll learn that the Lord is near to those of a broken heart and that many are the afflictions of the righteous but that He delivers us out of them all. (Psalm 34:18-19) You'll realize that the Lord teaches good judgment and knowledge through affliction and He'll always be working to draw us back to Him when we go astray. You seriously begin believing His commandments and become more determined in keeping His Word. (Psalm 119:66-67) You'll see that it is good for you when you've been afflicted, to learn His statutes. No one will be able to convince you that His judgments aren't right and you'll truly understand that in faithfulness only He afflicts you. (Psalm 119:71-75)

The disadvantage for us is, we do not see the full picture but we are encouraged and have hope because God knows the beginning from the end and He loves us so much and wants only what is best for us and He is the only one who knows what it takes for us to become what we need to be for Him. Trust Him!

Connie J. Schmoll

For those of you viewing this from email, visit the site to view the video, "Search Me O God" by Hillsong.