The Top Shelf: The All-Knowing God — Thursday
Psalm 139:23
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. (NLT)
My family on my mom’s side has a history of heart conditions. Multiple relatives have gone in for procedures, pacemakers, and open-heart surgeries.
Psalm 139 begins and ends with a kind of open-heart surgery:
Verse 1 – “O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.”
Verse 23 – “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.”
Our Great Physician knows the human heart best; after all, He created it. We agree with that, but we naturally resist laying down on the operating table and letting Him “search our heart.”
Our resistance comes from our view of God. If we think He is out to get us, He just wants to take our fun away, or He’s merely spotlighting our faults, why would we willingly invite His examination? However, when we remember that God, at His core, is love—we realize that by opening ourselves afresh to His searching eyes of love, He seeks to purify us for our good and lead us in the way of everlasting life.
Whether you’re a Christian, a Buddhist, a hedonist, or an atheist, there is a universal truth: What we believe directly influences how we live.
And belief is never just a head thing. Information alone does not produce transformation. Sadly, many churches operate under this faulty assumption, following the formula of “more Bible knowledge equals a more loving person.” Unfortunately, you can’t think your way into Christlikeness.
God knows that true belief happens at a heart level. So that’s where He does His work.
After all, “What you say flows from what is in your heart” (Luke 6:45). And we are warned, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4:23 NIV). God doesn’t waste time on superficial issues or temporary symptoms—He aims to heal us at the heart.
Maybe today is the first time you’ve truly been heart-level honest with God, or maybe it’s the first time in a long time. Either way, He already knows; He knows you better than you know yourself. So before you finish reading this devotional, have a talk with our loving Father about what’s going on in your heart.
Thursday’s Reflection
Today’s invitation is to submit your heart for God to search. What “anxious thought” do you want Him to know? What “offensive way” do you want to ask God to remove from your heart?
