A friend of mine recently fell on the ice and broke his leg. It was a pretty bad break so he was placed in a wheel chair and told not to put any weight on the broken leg for three months. The three months is almost up and he was feeling really good. He felt for sure everything was going to be fine and he would be back on his feet.
This week he had his doctor's appointment and received the bad news that he needed to remain in the wheel chair for another month. Amazing how from all outward appearances and feelings he thought everything was fine. The x-rays told the truth. Things were not what he thought they were.
David wrote in the Psalms, "Search me, Oh God and know my heart..." He knew he couldn't trust how he felt or what things looked like. Jeremiah the prophet reveals how deceitful the heart can be. “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?" It is so important for each of us to allow God to x-ray our heart by the Holy Spirit and not go by how we feel.
This is not only to reveal sin, but to also reveal His righteousness! Many times we feel forsaken or a failure, but God sees something completely different. Possibly today you are feeling depressed or discouraged. Don't go by your feelings or how things look. As bad as things may be, God sees something completely different. You are a son of God and He believes in you! So much so that He has given you all authority to establish His Kingdom on the earth through the power that works in you. Surely we all know that we need to allow the Holy Spirit to convict us of hidden breaks in our character, but we also have to allow Him the opportunity to show us who we really are.
I love the way Peterson writes Psalm 139:23 in the Message translation; "Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me; Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I’m about;"
That is what we all need, "a clear picture of what we are about." You may be disappointed, but I believe you also might be pleasantly surprised. The x-ray tells the truth! Make sure you obey the doctor and hang in there!
"No one would have crossed the ocean if he could have gotten off the ship in the storm."
- Charles Kettering

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