Search Me, God
Notes
Transcript
Search Me, God
Search Me, God
23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Search Me
Search Me
Car Keys example
Life is characterized by searching. Storytellers know this better than most, and quest is almost synonymous with story: an individual who searches encounters difficulties that must be overcome and may need assistance in the process. Searching may also entail discoveries, corrections, changes in plans and growth in understanding. It is always a process rather than an instantaneous event.
Know my heart
Hebrew word for heart used is better translated as “wholehearted devotion”
Know the motives of my heart
Why I do what I do?
Good Actions often have Bad Motives
1 The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.
2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle,
3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”
5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die!
6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.
David’s true motives had been revealed
Sometimes it takes others to see in us what we can’t see for ourselves.
David didn’t know that he could go that far.
What are the motives of your heart?
God search me, know my heart, reveal my motives and desires.
Test Me
Test Me
Know my anxious thoughts
Anxious thoughts are fears
What keeps us awake at night and causes us anxiety
What kept David awake was his guilt.
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
The source of David’s anxiety was the guilt over his sin
He feared God did not forgive him
What are your anxious thoughts?
Do you worry about your family?
Job, health, etc.
What we fear the most reveals where we trust God the least. -Craig Groeschel
-Craig Groeschel
What areas of your life are you not trusting God?
See Me
See Me
Know my offensive ways
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.
27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.
Offensive ways are sin
Wesley defines sin as “A willful transgression of a known law of God”
Willful- You do it on purpose
Transgression- Violation
Known Law of God- Violating a known command of God
God is Love, but God is also Holy
A Holy God is displeased by sin
David is praying, “Show me where I have displeased you, God”
That is a High Risk prayer
It requires us to listen
It requires us to be honest
Some questions to ask
Are people trying to tell me something and I am not willing to listen?
It took the prophet Nathan to show David his offensive ways
Am I more concerned about the sins of others, than my own sin?
3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?
5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Is there any area of my life where I feel burdened by guilt?
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
What are your offensive ways?
Lead Me
Lead Me
Know my steps
Do you know what tempts you?
Your triggers
Counseling the porn addict
The garage door
Is there away to beat temptation?
13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
God provides a way out for every temptation.
This is how he guides our steps
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—
17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth
Truth will always conquer the lies of the enemy.
The Holy Spirit will know and guide your steps.
If we let him.
Tell the story of the old bridge and the guardrail giving out.
My friend almost fell in.
Some of us have been walking too close to the guardrails.
Who is guiding your steps?
In what areas are you walking too close the edge, that you may fall into sin?
(Lela)
Our prayer challenge this week is another high-risk prayer
Search me - know my heart
What are the motives behind my actions?
Test me - know my anxious thoughts
What do I fear the most? What area do I not trust God?
See me - know my offensive ways
In what ways am I displeasing God?
Lead me- know my steps
Where have I been walking?
Who is leading?
Prayer challenge for the next week