His knowledge = my comfort & joy!

Last night while watching a detective show, I noticed how those investigating a crime were able to discern when the people they interviewed were lying. Actors did a realistic imitation of the gestures and so on of those who are hiding something but proclaiming the opposite. Some people do have that ability in real life.

Imagine the discernment of God — how refreshing to know that God never mistakes outward appearance for reality, nor is led by the judgment of humans, particularly those who speak falsely. He laughs at our foolishness and ignorant judgements. Imagine God with no sounder discernment than we do and woe to sincere people who others think are hypocrites.

It is a joyful reality to know that God has infinite understanding. One day He will wipe off the dirt of worldly reproaches because He knows the least bit of grace and righteousness in the hearts of his people. He sees even the least saving faith, cherishes it, and will finish the work He has begun, not ever abandoning it.

A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory. (Matthew 12:20)

When it comes to prayer, He hears more than our words. One of my praying friends began our sessions covering her mouth for fear her words were inadequate, but Stephen Charnock rightly says that words are but the garment of prayer while meditation is the body, and affection is the soul and life of prayer. He points to verses like, “Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation” (Psalm 5:1) to point out that prayer is a rational act of the mind. not the act of a parrot. It comes from the heart even though the speaking part is the work of the tongue. God gives ear to the words, but He considers the meditation of our hearts.

Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. (Malachi 3:16)

This too is related to His vast and complete knowledge. He observes millions of sins committed at the same time, by a vast number of persons, to record them in order to punishment. He also distinctly discerns an infinite number of cries, all at the same moment, to register them in order to answer. A sigh cannot escape Him — even though it is crowded among a mighty multitude of cries from others, even though it might be covered with many unwelcome distractions in myself. It is like the believing touch from the woman that had the bloody issue was not concealed from Christ, nor was her cry undiscerned in the pressure of the multitudes. My groans are as audible and intelligible to Him as my words. He knows the mind of His own Spirit (who is prompting my thoughts) even if it is expressed in no plainer language than sobs and gasps.

And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:27)
O Lord, all my longing is before you; my sighing is not hidden from you. (Psalm 38:9)

PRAY: Oh Lord, such a blessing to read and think these realities about You and Your total knowledge, particularly regarding prayer. You hear the desires of my heart. Knowing You hear me makes up for the many times I’ve felt that no one is listening. Knowing You hear me, I can even say with the psalmist: “Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer. All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled; they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.” (Psalm 6:8–10) And this is the confidence that I have toward You, that if I ask anything according to Your will You hear me. And if I know that You hears me in whatever I ask, I know that I have the requests that I have asked of You. (1 John 5:14–15, personalized) You are utterly amazing!

God the Searcher

A young friend invited us to watch an award-winning documentary about a refugee camp. Thousands had fled from their homeland searching for freedom and finding that life in the camp was as dangerous and unpleasant as the life they fled. It was heart-wrenching even though some of them eventually left the camp for a better life.

My word today is SEARCH and the verses are about God searching us and what He is looking for. He sees that all of humanity has an enemy, not always persecutors and terrible living conditions. That enemy is sin and it is eternally destructive. Because of this, He wants us to turn from that way and follow Him.

In the OT, David speaks to his son who will be the next king:

1 Chronicles 28:9. “And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever.”

God looks for a heart that looks for Him, a person who knows they cannot do life as they should without His input and direction. Sadly, one aspect of sin is trying to fake righteousness, to look good in front of people thinking that God will see our ‘best efforts’ and that will be enough. However, in Job 13:9, Job asks his friends, “Will it be well with you when he searches you out? Or can you deceive him, as one deceives a man?”

This is an important question. The psalmist knew the answer. He writes in Psalm 139:1–6:

“O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.”

The author of this psalm invites God in verse 23-24, “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!”

I’ve learned two important things about asking God to do as the psalmist asked. One is that this prayer is almost always quickly answered. I’ve even told people that if they pray it, they should duck!

The other is that my heart can fool me. I might think my ideas are in line with God’s ideas, but when He lays bare my motivations, sometimes He exposes how I’ve been trying to run my own life. The ideas are not necessarily evil. Some of them seemed godly, yet they came from me, not Him.

As Jeremiah 17:9–10 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” and “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

God also searches for those who will follow Him. The prophet Ezekiel quotes Him in 34:11. “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.” We are lost without Him searching us out for Himself.

Jesus also said it in Matthew 18:12. “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?”

When we become children of God, God searches our hearts and intercedes for us according to His will (see Romans 8:27). He also says that our eyes and ears and hearts cannot imagine what is in store for us but “these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:9-11)

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. All of this tells me that the condition of my heart toward God is far more important than the things that I do, particularly if some of my ideas are self-rooted and not His will for me. Listening and obeying surpasses even the best of my efforts. In the end of things, God says all His people will know that He “searches minds and hearts, and will give to each of us according to our works.” (See Revelation 2:23) My rewards will be based on His searching ability, not on what anyone, including me, sees on the surface.