THIS IS TABLE ROCK FELLOWSHIP – PASTOR RYAN LADEN
| All week we have been dwelling in the message from Jesus Christ that calls us to examine our own hearts rather than simply rely on our ability to not break the laws of God. As you have been reflecting on the call of the Christ to see that our inward desires are just and important to the Lord as our outward actions, I wonder how the Holy Spirit has worked in you to help you see the sources of temptation and sin in your life? How has the Lord challenged your inner self, inner thoughts and attitudes as you have been in his Word and spending time in prayerful meditation of his truth? Search The end of Psalm 139 asks the Lord to search the heart of the Psalmist. This kind of examination from the Lord might seem a bit nerve-racking at first glance. You might be concerned about what the Lord might unearth or overturn in your heart. Maybe you are not ready for this kind of openness and honesty with the Lord. But, if you believe that the Heavenly Father loves you enough to forgive your sins by the work of God the Son, Jesus Christ, then you must know in your soul that the Lord wants what is best for you, even in this kind of examination and searching. Listen to how this invitation is given in the following: “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 Honesty Before we can pray this prayer and see God at work in the deepest, darkest, scariest parts of our hearts and minds, we must make a decision to be honest with God. We cannot ask the Lord to be at work in our desires, attitudes, and anxieties unless we commit to total honesty with the Lord. We cannot hide our true thoughts or pretend that the sin that the Holy Spirit convicts us of is somehow not our responsibility. Listen to the way in which the Psalmist describes the depths to which the Lord has already searched us and some of the ways that our Lord knows us better than we know ourselves: “You have searched me, LORD, and you know me.You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely.You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?”Psalms 139:1-7 NIV-11 Present The Lord is already present in all the areas of your life that you have convinced yourself that were secret and off-limits. If your savior already knows all of your evil thoughts, sinful actions, and rebellious intentions and yet still loves you and calls you to bear his name and be a part of his eternal life and work, then there is no reason for any of us to be defensive and standoffish before such a loving and caring King. Reflection As you go through your day today, consider the following description of just how close the Lord is to you and how much he loves you and wants you to be open and honest with him in all things: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!”Psalm 139:13-17 NIV-11 In Christ,Ryan Laden |
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