Search Me, Oh God!

Blindness

You may have heard it said that we’re all blind to our own blindness. In other words, each of us is unable to see our own weaknesses and blind spots clearly. We may live years without understanding something very basic about ourselves that others see quite easily. Can you remember a time when a loved one was completely surprised by something you saw to be an issue in their lives?  Perhaps they couldn’t see or realize a particular issue because they operated so long without it being exposed? The reality is that each of us has a seemingly endless ability to deceive ourselves. This shouldn’t come as a shock because blindness is simply a part of our fallen nature. Consider what David prayed:

 “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.” – Psalm 139:23-24 NIV. 

David was Israel’s King and a man of great reputation, influence, and wealth. But he was also acutely aware of his own blindness and the desperation of his spiritual condition. He cried out for the Lord to search him thoroughly so that he might be led into God’s everlasting ways. With the knowledge of his own blindness, David clung to his Maker all the more and plead for God to graciously keep him on course.

This attitude of humble submission before God is the starting point for all growth.

By humbly and willingly inviting the Lord to search the hidden recesses of our lives, we open ourselves to his transforming influence. Of course this isn’t always easy. It takes a soft heart and courageous spirit to admit our neediness and confess God to be our only hope in life. Proverbs, a book all about wisdom, begins with and repeats an important refrain that summarizes this heart attitude: “ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.” – Proverbs 1:7 NKJV. The implication is that all knowledge begins with a healthy and reverent fear of God. To fear the Lord is to open oneself up to true knowledge, and to recognize that all understanding originates in Him. Our world bristles at this thought. We like to believe we’ve got it handled and that we can figure things out on our own. Characteristics like independence and self-sufficiency are badges of honor that most of us wear with pride. After all, who wants to feel that they are “needy”? In reality though, we all desperately need God! C.S. Lewis puts it this way:
“God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there.”[1]