“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”

Psalm 139:23-24

Search me, O God…

Whew. I remember when I first prayed the petition David presents in Psalm 139:23-24. It was just a few weeks ago.

It can be really intimidating, asking God to search your heart, to test you and know your thoughts, to reveal to you anything that is offensive to Him.

Why?

Because things that are offensive to God are what we call sin, and sweet friend, none of us enjoy having our sin pointed out to us. It’s bad enough when a friend shows us something sinful in our actions, but we can refute a friend, make excuses…

But God – oh dear heart – when God searches your heart, He goes deep to things that other people will never see. He examines your attitude and your motivation and your innermost desires. He sees sin that you don’t even know exists, the sneaky kind like pride and bitterness and greed.

And what He reveals can’t be refuted. He is Elohim, the Creator who made you and made me. He knows everything about us, including who He intends us to become – and beloved – that’s the best part of praying Psalm 139:23-24.

You see, sin, even sin we can’t see or don’t even know we have, sin breaks us a little bit, puts a crack in our hope, our faith, our service, our love…

And when a friend points out sinful action, we can mad or we can get honest, but we can’t get fixed. Other people can’t fix us (and friend, we can’t fix other people!).

But when God points out sin, we can do more than get mad or get honest, we can get fixed.

Beloved, God doesn’t reveal our brokenness to simply show us we are broken.

God reveals our brokenness so He can teach us to be whole.

As Christians, sometimes we get so caught up in our brokenness, how broken can be beautiful, that our brokenness becomes a kind of perverse idol, a weakness we celebrate, a place we linger so others may look upon our brokenness and…give us comfort? See…our humble spirit?

But friend, there’s something far more beautiful than broken and that’s whole – and in that truly wonderous way that God works, the only way to become whole is to face your brokenness, hand-in-hand with God, and allow Him to make you whole.

It might not be easy. Speaking from experience, it will probably hurt.

But oh dear heart, it is so very worth it to work with God!

To become who He intends you to be!

Holy and Whole!