Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way. (Psalm 139: 23-24, NASB)
Scrutiny requires that one looks within. A spiritual check-up. A look at the heart. Vital signs. A motive check.
The problem with scrutinizing one's spiritual life is the limitation of one's own humanity. A great frailty in most folks is the inability to see one's own faults.
It's God who can penetrate the recesses of our hearts---those "desperately wicked areas." (Jeremiah 17:9)
One must be willing to ask God to do the search. To probe and dig deep. "Down where our unspoken thoughts swell and unstated motives hide." (Living the Psalms, p. 282)
Such searching by God of one's inner most being could be so-o-o painful. Why would one want to do that? Could truth revealed by the Great Physician change one's actions?
The result is an awareness of anything that brings pain to God or to others. Deep hurts. Knowing....and then changing, with God's help, allows one to walk in the everlasting way....a path of righteousness, and to bring others along with her.
Something to think about during my "Tea with Thee" time....as I sip a cuppa scru-TEA-ny from my most transparent teacup.
The problem with scrutinizing one's spiritual life is the limitation of one's own humanity. A great frailty in most folks is the inability to see one's own faults.
It's God who can penetrate the recesses of our hearts---those "desperately wicked areas." (Jeremiah 17:9)
One must be willing to ask God to do the search. To probe and dig deep. "Down where our unspoken thoughts swell and unstated motives hide." (Living the Psalms, p. 282)
Such searching by God of one's inner most being could be so-o-o painful. Why would one want to do that? Could truth revealed by the Great Physician change one's actions?
The result is an awareness of anything that brings pain to God or to others. Deep hurts. Knowing....and then changing, with God's help, allows one to walk in the everlasting way....a path of righteousness, and to bring others along with her.
Something to think about during my "Tea with Thee" time....as I sip a cuppa scru-TEA-ny from my most transparent teacup.
