“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 NLT

We find ourselves in the Lenten Season, a time of prayer and self reflection. I remember Lent as being very important as a child. We would give up sweets, attend special services, and go to confession. I was young, but I understood the need to bring our lives, and our hearts to the altar and allow God to have a look. Holiness and accountability should never be far from a Christian’s vocabulary. For it is only by humbling ourselves do we find grace to help in time of need.

I always had an understanding that in all things, God knew my heart. There was no use hiding from Him. Even my very thoughts were known completely. Unkind words unspoken, but thought? Known. Suppressed rebellious anger and resentment toward my parents when they seemed to demand so much from me in looking after my much younger siblings? Seen and noted. I remember sitting in the dark confessional at age 8 confessing my sins to our parish priest. When I was finished he would address me BY NAME and forgive me and give me my penance! This seemed to only strengthen my understanding that there was nowhere to hide from God!

This would have all been terrifying if I were dealing with an angry God. Fortunately for me, my early teachers, my mother and the Sisters of Mercy, were big on teaching us about the GRACE of God, and that He was a God who longs to forgive us our sins and restore us to righteousness.

Psalm 139 so beautifully sums up our relationship with an all knowing, all seeing God, and how to rightly and openly relate to His gaze. “You have searched me, Lord, and You know me.” v1. In v3 David says, “You are intimately acquainted with all my ways.” The psalm is beautiful in its description of such intimate knowledge. There is no fear in the words, only a longing to be right with God. In the final verses David invites the Lord to “search me, God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Yes, Lord. In this season of heartfelt repentance, we invite You to search us and know us. Have Your way in our lives. Let Your will be done. Let Your Kingdom come. Let us always keep your face ever before us. For your love is better than wine, and you are more precious than silver or gold. Amen. Yes. Amen.

~ Debbie Ecker