THURSDAY: REFLECTION
KEY PASSAGE
DEVOTIONAL
This week you have been challenged to break from the busy, to slow your daily pace, institute a Sabbath, and practice silence and solitude. How has this made you feel? It probably has been harder than you thought to slow down and sit with God, but even harder to sit with yourself. What do you do with all of this?
David prioritized slowing down to take personal inventory of his thoughts, feelings and activities in the light of knowing his Heavenly Father. The closer that David drew to God, the more he realized God knew everything about him. David spends the first 22 verses of this Psalm expressing in great detail the magnitude of God’s knowledge of him. God knows his actions, his thoughts, his past, present and his future. On first glance, this seems scary—to be fully known by God.
If God knows everything about me, how will he respond? But, we see here in this passage that David is not confident in himself, but he is confident in the character of God.
Psalm 103:8 says, “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.”
David knew that God’s presence was the safest place to bring all of himself. He knew that there was nothing in his heart that would disqualify him from receiving mercy and love by God. And so, David asked the Lord to search his heart and God tended graciously to it. God desires to meet you in this place too. What are your hesitations to ask God to search your heart? There is absolutely NOTHING in your heart that hasn’t already been paid for by Jesus on the cross. There is joy in being fully known and loved by God!
CHALLENGE
Have you ever seen a child run frantically and unsettled, until their parent intervenes with an enveloping embrace? At first the child resists, but then collapses into their parent’s arms. Maybe today, you relate to this child. Your busyness is on purpose, because if you take a moment to slow down you will have to address the things in your heart. You have stuffed thoughts, frustrations, actions, sin in the back of your mind and decided not to address them. God is inviting you into this moment.
Pray Psalm 139:23-24 out loud. Take a few minutes to answer these questions:
What do my words and actions reveal about the condition of my heart?
What fears and anxieties do I need to hand over to God?
What sins or habits have hardened parts of my heart?
What do I need to confess to God?
What changes is the Holy Spirit inviting me to make?