Lesson 2 -- The Forgiven Heart -- Psalm 32

By now, many of you know I’m into definitions. I NEED to know what every word means and if I’m not sure, I MUST look it up! I’ve saved myself some embarrassing moments in high school by pulling out the dictionary and looking up the definition of a word before using it in a report. I’ve also experienced a few “classic” moments in university when I failed to actually CHECK how to PRONOUNCE that same word! But then, I’ve never been accused of being dull!  

 

So let’s get down to it!!!

 

Today’s word is SEARCH!

 

Some definitions of today’s word of the week include:  

• Examine
• Ferret around/about for
• Fish around/about for
• Forage for 
• Hunt
• Inquire diligently
• Look for
• Look high and low for
• Pursue
• Root around/about for
• Rummage around/about for
• Seek

These are all assuming it’s used as a verb. It’s also a noun but if I go into those synonyms, we’ll be here til evening! 

 

God longs to have a reciprocally intimate and personal relationship with us. WHOA…there’s one of those words I would have been looking up! For those who might secretly be asking themselves, “recipro…what???” It means “having the same qualities on both sides.” Good news is…His knowledge of each of us is ALREADY intimate and personal. Just how intimate and personal, you ask??? 

 

Let’s see how David describes God’s knowledge of our heart:

God is:

• Acquainted with all my ways
• He comprehends my path and my lying down (in 2013 English, that means He’s with us day AND night)
• He’s hedged me behind and before
• He's laid His hand upon me
• He’s known me
• He knows my sitting down and my rising up
• He’s searched me
• He understands my thoughts afar off 

 

Simply put, He’s pro-active and out there ready to search and test His servants…not just anyone but those called to be His servants. Does that include you? He knows your motives, desires and words before they are expressed. But before we start going down a rabbit trail about our every crazy life moment & thought playing out on a big screen in the Throne Room in Heaven, remember that the purpose of God’s intimate knowledge of His servants is protective and helpful not judgmental and condemning.

 

In Job 23:8-10, even Job in the worst of times, KNEW God knew everything about Job. He couldn’t see God but Job knew there wasn’t anything about himself that God didn’t already know to the most intimate detail.  

 

In reference to the possibility of forgetting the name of God or stretching our hands out to a foreign god, the Psalmist asks in Ps. 44:21: “Would not God SEARCH this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.” (Emphasis added.)

 

And in Ps. 69:5 David cries out to God by saying God knows David’s foolishness and that David’s sins are not hidden from God. I think it’s safe to say, David was talking for each one of us ever created when he wrote those lines. 

 

Even Job realized his knowledge of God only skirted the very edge of God’s way. How often do we get caught up in ourselves thinking “we’ve got it” – “me and God…we’re like this.” Oh, not in a blatant “look at me…I got a Christmas card from God” sort of way but in a more subtle “the other day, I was driving down the street and God told me to pull into Kohl’s because there was a GREAT sale taking place” sort of way. Now God “might, maybe, could” actually tell you about that fantastic sale, but chances are more likely He’ll be SEARCHING your heart for the reason you cut those two cars off trying to get over so you didn’t miss the turn for the Kohl’s parking garage! To draw from Lesson 1, remember your FOCUS: where is it? 

 

So just how committed is God to each of us?

 

Let’s turn to Psalm 139 vv 7-12. We read in that there is absolutely NO WHERE we can go, be, or hide that He isn’t there. High/low, good/bad…He’s there. Morning or night, summer or winter…He’s there! If we go back to the original Hebrew (I know…scary to think about me rummaging around in Hebrew reference books!), there are two different ways in which to understand the phrase “where can I go.”

 

One way is that David wanted to flee from the presence of God but couldn’t do so. The other sees that phrase as a celebration of God’s mercy. There was no place in all of creation where David…God’s servant, a man after God’s own heart …would find himself separated from God’s presence. 

 

Now when I got to v8 I had to take a few minutes to really think about the thought of God being in hell. So, a little more research and I discovered that most Bible scholars believe that hell would be the ONE place in the universe where God would not be present BUT even though God is opposed to all darkness, God would turn the darkness into light in order to find His servant David…AND (but wait! there’s MORE!)…the Lord would overturn the very structure of the universe to save the person who worshiped Him. How could you just not fall to your knees in humble adoration when you think about how much He loves you? Now, my husband would take a bullet for me…he’d walk through fire for me…he’s nursed me back to health over the years and never complained but I’m not entirely positive he’d go checking the bowels of hell for me! I have to wonder if he would be asking himself, “What if I can’t get back out?” But our Lord would go right down into the very recesses of hell, pick me up and carry me out of there!  WOW!

 

So God knows all about us and is committed to us but how can we keep ourselves aware of Him throughout the day? (vv13-18) 

 

It’s pretty personal really. For me, I try to begin every day with prayer and the reading of His Word. I talk to Him throughout the day, include Him in what I’m doing. In our line of work, sometimes I wonder if one side of God’s robe is ragged from where I’m repeatedly tugging on it while saying, “Oh, and don’t forget this client, Lord…and this other one too!” I give Him praise as I see Him at work throughout our day and end each day with prayer – telling Him about the day, praying for special requests – just talking with my ultimate best friend! 

 

Now…before you start thinking, “Well, isn’t SHE perfect?” … that’s my intent and plan for each day…and most days work out pretty close to that way. But sometimes…I…well, I oversleep…or my day begins with a call from a client in crisis and it’s everything I can do to throw on some clothes, smear on some make-up and head out the door for the office…who has time for prayer at that moment? (I should!) Sometimes it’s 3 clients into the day before I ask myself, “Did I brush my hair today?” Those are the moments when I have to stop and REFOCUS on Him and what He wants of me. Those are the moments when I have to stop and thank Him for getting me through the crisis. 

 

I have a friend I’ve known since 8^th grade and we’ve managed to stay in touch with each other through all the years and through hundreds of life’s milestones. We’ve been there for each other through the deaths of our mothers. She and I can talk to each other for hours and hours, never tiring of hearing about the events in the other’s life. She knows almost everything about me…where MOST of the skeletons are buried…but I’ve kept a little...ok maybe a big…secret piece of my life away from her. Now, she’s never tried to dig it out of me because she doesn’t even know I have this secret and I’m pretty sure she has a few secrets of her own but I’ve never tried to dig them out of her either. She’d do anything for me and the feeling is mutual. After all, she’s my best friend, after my husband; but even she doesn’t know everything there is to know about me. Nor has she tried to figure out everything about me. She’s content with what she knows at the moment. But my Father in Heaven knows EVERYTHING about me…even that little dark secret that not many people know. And yet He still loves me and it was He who held me in His Arms when the events of that horrid secret were taking place. He’s not content to just know me today, or on some superficial level of “Donna’s favorite color is green, she loves Garth Brooks and she’d never turn down a medium-rare New York steak smothered in mushrooms with a classic baked potato”-kind of way. He MUST and DOES know all there is to know about me…and that’s EXACTLY how I want it…or do I?

 

Think about this: Why is it necessary for us to ask God to search our hearts? 

 

BECAUSE WE CAN’T TRUST OUR OWN HEART!!! What? We can’t trust the very heart God gave to each of us? In a word…NO. BUT WHY? (How many times have we heard those words in our “Mommy-lives?” Because we’re fickle!  Prov. 28:26 tells us “WE can’t trust our OWN heart!!!”

 

Please read that passage with me: 

 

He who trusts in his own heart is a fool,

But whoever walks wisely will be delivered. 

 

In Jer. 17:9 we’re reminded that our heart is deceitful and desperately wicked; we don’t even know our own heart! I’m thinking there is a part of my heart that is waaaay beyond fickle and I need to take this heart back to the Creator and ask Him to fix it; remind Him that I’m one of those devices that given the opportunity to do things on my own, I’ll always fail if I don’t have the correct FOCUS and DIRECTION. Managing my heart requires input from the original Manufacturer/Creator. 

 

Again, back in Lesson 1 we learned about what comes from the heart. Going back to Matt. 15:18-20 we’re told, “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the HEART, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.”  

 

Are you afraid to ask God to search your heart? 

Sometimes in counseling, we’ll have to ask our clients some pretty straight forward questions: “Is this a deal breaker for you”? “Do you still love your husband?” “When was the last time you used drugs or alcohol?” We could probably answer each of those questions with relative ease but what about the first question I asked? ARE YOU AFRAID TO ASK GOD TO SEARCH YOUR HEART? It’s not as simple as you might think. It requires complete and unfiltered honesty. He demands access to your thoughts, desires, wishes, deeds, comments…ALL OF YOU!  Why are you afraid? 

Or maybe you can honestly say, “I’m NOT afraid.” Yet have you given Him your all? Have you opened yourself up bare for Him to search your heart? Even that sneaky little corner, waaay in the back where the light never shines…yes THAT corner. He wants that part of you. He wants ALL OF YOU!

Ask yourself…why give 80, 90, 95, even 98% of yourself to God yet still cling to that last teenie, tiny lint ball of sin? I had a client tell me about 3 months ago that she was “kinda off drugs.” I replied with, “hmmm, that sounds“kinda pregnant.”  In each case, it’s an all or nothing sort of activity. Either you’re off drugs or you’re still using drugs; either you’re pregnant or you aren’t. There’s no middle ground…no 25% pregnant! 

 

With God, we’re either in or we’re out. Not an essay question…He just wants us completely not because He wants to deprive us of some great “things” we think we might need. NO…it’s because He longs to bless us.  

 

So, are there benefits to asking God to search our hearts?  

 

I have to tell you I am passionately in love with our God. He not only shows me what’s wrong BUT THEN corrects me and leads me in the way everlasting! I KNOW with all of my HEART that I will have fellowship with Him forever because He corrects me and leads me according to His Will. 

 

The last two verses of Ps. 139 end with the words now etched into our brains: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me; And lead me in the way everlasting”. 

 

The benefit to asking God to search my heart? I don’t have to settle for tugging on an imaginary robe when I pray. I get everlasting life with the real thing – the Creator of the Universe – my Father, my Savior, my Holy Spirit and Comforter. He longs to protect us and be helpful. Our hearts and minds cannot fathom all that He has in mind for us in eternity.

 

Oh Lord, when I think upon these things, my heart can’t help but cry out, “Search my heart, O God…Lead me in the way everlasting!” 

 

I again encourage each of you as you study through each weekly lesson. I am praying daily for each of you that God will open your heart and your mind to a new and greater understanding of His Word as you go through each lesson. That change He began last week…it’s a work in progress. I encourage some of you to share with us each Thursday, or via email to the group, as the Lord leads, how He has begun a new work in your life. It won’t always be easy but you’ll never find yourself alone. You’re in the palm of His Hand…all the way! 

 

Til next week…I love you all!

Lesson One -- The Heart (Psalm 139)

Welcome!  We meet each week to share our experiences in studying the designated psalm, our Study questions and how it all comes together to help us have our hearts in the right place. What follows is what has come to be known as my "Summary" ... a little nudging here and a reminder there of what I believe God gave me during the course of my preparation for the Study. (I guess I should say, for the benefit of those reading this blog who don't attend our Study, I am the course moderator and hopefully I help us all stay on track each week...otherwise we'd all likely spend more time talking about our grandbabies than we ought!) 

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Some Biblical definitions of the HEART include: the mind, will, emotions, desires, affections, appetites & motives.

The Heart is where…

sin is conceived AND

repentance takes place

 

We’re called to keep our heart (protect our heart) with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life.

 

So what are the characteristics of the heart of those who do not know God:

Selfishness, evil, hardness, unrepentant, blindness, deceitfulness, wickedness, rebelliousness;it houses unbelief and fear; it’s tortured and envious; it’s full of confusion and disharmony.

 

Let’s go to Scripture for more about some of these characteristics:

In Gal 5:20-21, Paul cautions us about selfish ambitions or works of the flesh. We learn that those who practice these things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 

Phil 2:3 encourages us to have “Unity through Humility.”  “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” In other words, look out for the interests of others not just yourself. James 3:16 tells us where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. Confusion corrupts human relationships because it brings disharmony. Evil produces confusion.  

 

God brings harmony and wisdom into our lives. He WANTS that for us…it’s what a father wants for his children in all aspects of their lives. 

 

 

Our Father God knows the secrets of the heart: 

 

We read in Psalm 44:21 that God knows the secrets of the heart. 

 

It reminds me of when I was a little girl and my dad would say, “Now, Donna, I’m going to ask you a question and I want you to tell me the truth.” I KNEW my dad ALREADY knew the answer to that question and I’d better not even THINK about not telling him the truth. I often wondered HOW he knew what had really happened or even scarier…how he KNEW what I was THINKING: He’d say, “I know you’re thinking I don’t understand how you feel or why you did what you did.” I figured my dad and God were on a first name basis and I didn’t stand a chance if I decided to be dishonest with either of them! 

 

Speaking to those here who grew up listening to the old time radio programs, do you remember the program called “The Shadow.”  For those of you who don’t have that wonderful memory, I’ll tell you the Reader’s Digest version of the program. The intro line was, “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?  The SHADOW KNOWS!” Now, that was just a radio program but how many little kids really thought there was someone who REALLY knew what was in a person’s heart?  The good news is THERE IS!!! He is our Heavenly Father and He’s more than just a “Shadow” on a radio program. 

 

Talking about God knowing the secrets of our heart, do you sometimes feel compelled to “help someone see the light” and point out a flaw or a short-coming? You might have the best of intentions and after all, you have been a Christian for a whole lot longer! God knows your heart, right? When I read 1 Cor 4:5 I had to read it a couple of times before it really registered in my brain what Paul was saying. (“Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.”) He’s reminding us that a servant needs to focus solely on pleasing his master and NOT be distracted by what others think of his work or efforts. He’s telling us as believers while we benefit from constructive evaluations of fellow believers, our ultimate master and judge is the Lord – and if God is our Judge, we all need to be cautious and careful about making premature judgments or evaluations of others.  Remember that God is our judge and He doesn’t need our help in that regard; we need to check our own heart…ask Him to search our heart…BEFORE we act.

 

 

So how can our hearts be changed? 

 

Please turn with me to Ezekiel 36:25-27. 

 

God’s promising…

A new heart…a new spirit…

He’ll remove the heart of stone…

He’ll give us a heart of flesh…

He’ll put His Spirit within us…

He’ll cause us to walk in His statutes…

AND… we’ll keep His judgments and DO them! 

 

This is what God said to Israel thru the prophet Ezekiel regarding the renewal of Israel after they had sinned against Him.  He wanted to remind them of how He brought them thru to the promised land and how, in turn, they defiled that land by their own ways and deeds instead of following His CLEAR instructions and commands.  He did write it down in stone afterall! God wants to do these things for us – He tells us CLEARLY what He wants to do for us through His Word; He also tells us CLEARLY what will happen if we stray from His commands. 

 

Sounds easy enough, right?  How many of us, as mommies, told our children, “Now if you follow the rules on this list, you’ll never get in trouble, I won’t yell at you, and you’ll always get dessert after dinner?”  OK, maybe that was just me…but I’m pretty sure we all had our own version of that scenario.  And how many times did our children fall short?  And even more – how many times did we wonder to ourselves, “If they’d only done what I told them to do in the first place, they wouldn’t have lost that privilege?”  I often wonder if God has ever had that conversation with Himself? “I get Pharoah to let them go AND pay them to leave; I part the Red Sea so no one gets wet feet; I give them food to eat for 40 years AND clothes that don’t wear out for 40 years; I provide crops on land they didn’t plow or sow, and these knuckleheads can’t remember to serve ONLY Me?” 

 

So what happens when we go off on our own? When we don’t “check our heart?” We lose? We lose out on all the many ways He wants to bless us. Through the Fruit of the Spirit He creates in us a new heart and a new spirit. Gal. 5:22 tells us what that fruit is: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. What an amazing gift from our Father.  

 

 

So how do we get this new heart? 

 

Rom. 10:9-10 tells us when we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our HEART that God has raised Him from the dead, we will be saved! With the HEART we believe and with the mouth we confess for our salvation. He gives us a new heart and a new spirit that helps us follow Him and do His will. 

 

2 Cor 5:17 tells us when we come to Christ, God takes away the old and makes us a new creation! 

 

In Matt 7:9-11 Jesus points out to the crowd that if they, being evil, wouldn’t fail to give their children good food when they asked for it, how much MORE will our Father give us when we ask Him? When we come to Christ, God takes away the old and makes us a new creation.  His Word doesn’t say he “repairs” us or “restores” us – at that VERY moment, the old self dies and a new self is created! Amazing when you take some time to think about it! 

 

So this new creation is 100% new – with a new heart and all that comes with it – a thirst and a hunger to serve Him; to be honest; believing, unafraid, helpful, tender-hearted, loving, faithful, sure, open, repentant, peaceful.  It’s His gift to us!

 

 

Our responsibilities to this new heart? 

 

Summed up in one word – it’s FOCUS!

 

Rom. 8:5-6 is a reminder that we become governed by the things on which we focus! 

 

Remember King David who chose to focus on Bathseba as she was bathing on the roof instead of being out with his troops! David had a temporary lapse in focus but that didn’t prevent him from coming back to God and asking Him to forgive him. When we lose our focus, all we need to do is come back! Re-focus on HIM and His Word. God refers to David as a man who sought His own heart. Being known forever in history as “a man who sought God’s own heart” makes David someone I look forward to meeting one day. 

 

Eph. 4:20-24 encourages us to put off the old man and put on the new man!

 

And Rom. 6:4 reminds us that we walk in the newness of life…that newness that comes as part of that new heart.

 

So we need to constantly guard this new heart…remember to stay focused on the things of the Spirit and not the flesh. 

 

 

Easy from here on out…right?

 

No way!  Wishful thinking! Satan tempts us through our very desires! He’s not all-knowing but he sure knows where my weaknesses are and left to my own devices, I don’t stand a chance against him.  

 

John 8:31-32 is a reminder that God’s Word sets me free. I’m not asked to “go it alone.”  And Heb. 4:12-13 tells us His Word is “living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword…it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart!” Everything…our thoughts, the desires of our heart…everything is laid bare and open to God…and we WILL give an account to HIM for those things.

 

Some might think this has been another long laundry list of “dos” and “don’ts” and God just doesn’t want us to have any fun. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just like my earthly father wanted only the best for me…to be safe, secure, happy, wise AND obedient…our Heavenly Father wants to give us only the best. And I have to ask myself what greater gift could my Heavenly Father give me than the privilege to love Him with ALL MY HEART?  

 

I encourage each of you as you study through each weekly lesson. I am praying for each of you every day of the week that God will open your heart and your mind to a new and greater understanding of His Word as you go through each lesson. I know that He’s already working a change in my heart…and I also know that change won’t always be easily accepted but it will be what HE wants and it will be HIS reply as I ask Him to “Search my heart, O God.”

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog! Well, actually, welcome to my FIRST blog! A friend of mine told me that once I start blogging, I'll never stop! "EGADS," I thought...that's the LAST thing I need...another obsession! :)

This blog has been created for several reasons but the most important reason is to bring glory to God. My local readers know that we meet each week for our Women's Bible Study and this blog was named in honor of the theme of our Women's Bible Study for this season: Search my heart, O God. The course was written by two wonderful women of God from Calvary Chapel in Pasadena, California and I am thankful for their God-given talents that have reached up to the Pacific-Northwest and so richly blessed us in Dallas, Oregon.

We are heading into our 11th Lesson of the course and if you can't join us in person each week, I hope you'll check this blog to read the latest on each Lesson. Pull up a comfie chair and snuggle up with a warm cup of your favorite hot beverage and join us as we read through a different psalm each week and ask our Heavenly Father to, "Search my heart, O God!"

Feel free to post your comments and/or questions...just one request: Please be nice!

Blessings on you all!
D