This week I asked each of you to pray the prayer of Psalm 139:23-24. This prayer boils down to two powerful words “Search Me.” Bill Hybels calls this the most dangerous prayer in the Bible. I call it the “The prayer we all need to pray now.” It takes a real man with “guts” to pray this prayer and mean it. It separates the men from the boys, the steers from the bulls and the heifers from the cows. Why is this prayer so courageous? Because it is a prayer to God who knows every single thing about us –
- Who knows us intimately,
- Is with us constantly,
- Made us wonderfully and
- Judges us righteously.
A God who saw us in the womb before conception, was present at conception, knows our very thoughts before we speak them. It is to this God to whom David is praying and which I trust you have prayed this week. AND WHAT IS THIS PRAYER ASKING GOD TO DO? To look into the inner recesses of our soul and EXPOSE WHATEVER IS THERE: Every sinful act, attitude or thought. In fact, it is asking God to do something we cannot do within ourselves at all, for “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jer. 17:9). No man on earth – boy or girl. But Jeremiah goes on to say, “I the Lord search the heart.” (Jer. 17:10). David had read and he knew he did not know his own heart, but was honest enough to ask God to reveal his hidden sin – “to search him.”
Now just think with me about the word “Search.” When I think of search, I think of a flashlight. What is a flashlight? A flashlight is used to help us find things in the dark. I have a few tools in my home, but I would never live without a flashlight. Because I want a flashlight to see what is in my attic, to see my way to the bathroom at night, to use when I go camping, etc. So David is asking God to flash the light of His holiness into the inner recesses of his soul and make them as plain as day.
What is God’s Flash Light? His Plain Word which the Holy Spirit uses to convict us of sin. We find His flashlight from Genesis to Malachi, Matthew to Revelation:
- A powerful flashlight is the entire Sermon on the Mount – Matt. 5:7.
- A powerful flashlight is the Greatest Commandment – Matt. 22:37.
- In Ephesians 4:25-32, there is a cluster of Flashlights: “ Therefore, putting away lying, “ Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”
- Another cluster is found in 1 Thess. 5:16-23, “ Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
You may be saying, “But one or two little sins won’t hurt me.” Listen again to the prayer of David, “Point out any single thing is me which makes you sad or grieves You.” If you are refusing to turn from any wicked way, you are not truly repenting and you will not be changed. So you may say, “Well, Lord, I’ll quit cussing around the house, but I can’t give up on internet pornography.” Then you have not prayed David’s prayer, you are still in the bondage of sin.
But notice how the prayer concludes, “And lead me in the way everlasting.” What does this mean? If God reveals any unholy thing in your life, He wil forgive you if you repent and He will give you grace to deal with that sin, that is, overcome it and be totally free.
Conclusion: 1 John 3:6-10, “Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.”