Look in the Mirror

Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!
    God, I’ll never comprehend them!
I couldn’t even begin to count them—
    any more than I could count the sand of the sea.
Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!
    And please, God, do away with wickedness for good!
And you murderers—out of here!—
    all the men and women who belittle you, God,
    infatuated with cheap god-imitations.
See how I hate those who hate you, God,
    see how I loathe all this godless arrogance;
I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred.
    Your enemies are my enemies!

 Psalm 139:17-22

As I read these words today, the last part struck me a little differently. When David is speaking of his own loathing of others who are godless, it isn’t some license of self-elevation. He mentions murders first ~ He is one. It is as if he is looking in the mirror, as we all should, to loath the enemy within our own souls that wars against God.

David knew that “search my heart, O God” needed to be a daily endeavor ~ to fight against the “godless arrogance” that lives within our own natural self. The existence of it is often times the most difficult to acknowledge to ourselves. But this passage does hold a key to our inner disclosure before God, “…let me rise in the morning and live always with You!”

It is not right to live in self-loathing, or to put others down in order to lift ourselves up…after all, ”we all fall short”! But it is in our seeking God that HE lifts us up from lowly to lofty.

Investigate my life, O God,
    find out everything about me;
Cross-examine and test me,
    get a clear picture of what I’m about;
See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—
    then guide me on the road to eternal life.

Psalm 139:23 & 24 ~ The Message

Ya know, we have all kinds of books and “googling” stuff out there. Self help is its own industry! There certainly isn’t anything wrong with improving ourselves, but attempting it without God at the center cannot possibly go anywhere good. David puts the examining in God’s hands, not his own and here he shows us that he knows he has imperfections and he knows that he doesn’t know all of them, BUT he knows Who does! And as God’s children we all can depend on the Guide on the road to eternal life…here to heaven.

Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.

II Timothy 3:16 & 17