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Psalm 139:23-24  
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

In a time of personal reflection, the prophet Jeremiah wrote, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) Left on my own there isn’t much I can’t rationalize. My sin can be excused as something I deserve.  Whoever believes their heart is not deceitful is deceived! That’s why today’s passage should be our daily prayer.

David concludes this powerful psalm with an invitation for God to shine a searchlight on his heart. He calls on God to reveal anything hidden. He desires testing to see where anxiety pushes away faith. He asks God to point out the sin so he can seek forgiveness.

I am the absolute worst judge of my motives. I need outside counsel to assess my state.  I need the Counselor to lay open my heart and search every part I am trying to hide.

Father, I ask You to shine Your searchlight on my heart and make it known. Show me where I am missing the mark. Make known my anxious thoughts so I can turn them from worry to trust. Show me where I am offensive to You and others. Please don’t let me live my life doing things that offend others by my personality, actions, or words and not even know the damage I’m causing. Please don’t let me live in an offensive way towards You and never seek Your forgiveness. Father, help me follow hard after You. In Christ’s name. Amen.