CAN you say unshrinkingly with the Psalmist David, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts," and in the same Psalm he seems to rejoice to say, "O Lord, Thou hast searched me, and known me... for there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether." (Psa. 139)
Do you feel happy in the recollection that the searching eye of God reads your heart through and through? If it is still black and defiled with unconfessed and unforgiven sin you cannot bear the thought. We were "born in sin," God's word says—born bad to begin with, and we have been bad—have been sinners ever since, and are sinners still if unsaved. At this very moment all are either among the number of those who are "guilty before God," or of those who have been "cleansed from all sin by the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son.”
How is it with you, reader? Are you afraid of God's eye—afraid of His voice? If there is still resting upon you the consciousness of sins unforgiven, there will be—there must be—fear, but if all have been forgiven for Christ's sake, He having borne the dreadful punishment deserved by you, then God's "perfect love casts out fear, for fear hath torment.”
A child who is conscious of having willfully disobeyed his or her parents' word, shrinks from them, and is not happy as usual in their presence. The simple words, "Come here, come to me," cause it to tremble, or turn pale, and very reluctantly does it obey the parent's call, fearing that inquiry, discovery, and probably punishment will follow. On the other hand, a child who is living in the happy sunshine of a perfect understanding with its parents with nothing to hide from them, runs with joy into their arms: yes, and without being called—fearing nothing.
How important and solemn the question, can I unshrinkingly say, “Search me, O God, and know my heart"? E. G.