Being Searched – Proverbs 20:27

I recently had a laparoscopic procedure.  The laparoscope was inserted through a small incision into my belly to light and video the inside part of me that needed work.  Of course, this searching technique was preceded by two different external searches or scans of my body to determine the cause of my illness.  What search technique does God use?

The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all his innermost parts. (Proverbs 20:27, ESV)

Do you like having all your thoughts exposed for anyone to see?  The very possibility of that is something we constantly hedge against.  We are certain that if people knew everything we think or feel we would have no friends.  There’s too much ugliness inside us.  We have experienced being exposed before and the fear/flight reaction we had is called shame.  We wanted to hide and never be seen again.

David wrestled with this in relation to God.  Psalm 139 is his experience of dreading being searched and known by God.  But he realized that God was safe to be exposed to and that this process of exposure to God, if he participated in it and learned from it, could change him and lead him on the everlasting pathway.

God searches all our innermost parts.  That is a given.  There is nothing that is not exposed to His searching.  But He loves us.  And as we open ourselves to His searching process and are willing to keep our eyes open as He shines the light on our dark places, He heals us.  We bring out before Him our ugly sides and confess them to Him, and He cleanses them.

We walk in the light, as He is in the light, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us (1 John 1:5-2:10).