Wednesday, August 24, 2011

DIRECTING MY THOUGHTS IN THE RIGHT WAY

“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalms 139:23-24, ESV.)

Before, that passage created discomfort in myself. Actually, I could not then honestly say, “Search me, O God, and know my heart!....”

Though I believed that God knew my thought or what’s in my heart, yet I would not like for Him to try me and know my thoughts. For I knew that there were many offensive things not only in my ways, but even in my thoughts.

But my attitude toward that passage had changed.

Now, I love to read it again and again. In fact, I want to include it in my prayer. It’s one of my new favorite passages in the Bible.

Why? Is it because there’s no longer offensive thought in my mind?

Actually, my attitude toward that passage changed when I encountered various verses in the Scripture that extol God’s Sovereignty, even in the spiritual salvation of His people, like:

”The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will” (Proverbs 21:1, ESV).

”…for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

Because of the verses like the above, I am now confident that God could even lead my awry thoughts in the right way! I pray He would always examine what's in my heart, so He could cleanse it by the blood of His Son.