Bold PrayersSample

Search Me And Know My Heart

You’re still reading, you thrill seeker. You must want out of your me-circle. You must want the scary-good life on the edge, in full submission to the Maker and Master of everything. You want to have a heart that chases after God’s own heart. You and King David both.

King David prayed a famously dangerous prayer in Psalm 139 (NIV) when he said, Search me, God, and know my heart … Why is this a dangerous prayer? Is it because God might find some bad stuff in King David’s heart and then get him in trouble? No, God knows everything, always. He’s not going to find anything new in King David’s heart. A “search me” prayer is dangerous not because of what God might find, but because of what He might reveal to us.

Think of selling a house with a realtor. You clean your house perfectly before your realtor arrives, hoping they’ll think your house is a quick sell. Instead, they tell you to get rid of the green velvet couch, clean up the nasty corner of carpet where the dog sleeps, and please take down that baby cherub wallpaper! Asking God to search us is like that. He comes in and opens our eyes to all the trash we couldn’t see. Just like with the realtor, we get to decide whether to keep the junk or to clean house.

Merely having junk doesn’t condemn us. King David committed murder and adultery, and God still called him a man after His own heart. So, let’s get over the fear of being found out. God already knows everything in our hearts. Let’s ask God to show us what He knows. Let’s haul out the junk so we can get the most bang for our buck in our pursuit of God’s heart.

Pray: Holy Spirit, please show me the junk in my life that offends You. Cause it to offend me like it does You. Let it smell like old trash to me. And Father, help me to trade this garbage for the full life You promised me.