When one year ends and another one begins, it is pretty
common for us to stop, though maybe only for a moment, to take stock of our
lives. But should we take the time to do this kind of thing? According to
Plato, during Socrates’ trial for corrupting the youth of Athens in 399 B.C.
Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/scriptorium/2010/02/the-examined-life-of-socrates/).
Should you take some time and examine your life?
I believe the quick answer to that question is a qualified
yes. Your life should be examined, but it is nothing something that you can do
alone, you need help, honestly we all need help to accomplish such a task. Recently
I was reminded of why that is in fact the case. Jeremiah wrote these words a
long time ago:
Jeremiah 17:9-10 – The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately
sick; who can understand it? 10
"I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man
according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds."
Our hearts, not the physical organ, by heart Jeremiah was
speaking of the totality of our inner lives, are not something we understand. And
sadly, our inner lives are not very pretty sometimes, yet how we act and the
attitudes we project come from that mess. Though we need to be examined, it is
not a private activity. As verse 10 shows us, the Lord alone is the One who can
do such an examination.
As we embark on a new year, I would like to suggest that
with some measure of regularity we need to pray a couple of verses of Scripture
and wait and listen carefully for the Lord to answer that prayer. The verses
are Psalm 139:23-24:
Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my
thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me
in the way everlasting!
Most men and undoubtedly many women go through each day at
full speed and do not carve out time for the discipline of praying, contemplating,
and reflecting over God’s answers. Such an activity may sound to some as a type
of useless nasal gazing. But I believe it should sound to us like an incredible
gift from God to us. Psalm 139 is written in the context of distress – note the
harsh words of verses 19-22. And in that context, the psalmist, presumably
David has noted that God’s knowledge of his life is complete and full (verses
1-12). Such knowledge should not surprise us given that God is the One who made
us (verses 13-16) and should drive us to worship God (verses 17-18). If the
first parts of the Psalm are true, then in a world that is not always what it
should be, we may not always be the people we should be. We probably need an
examination.
Maybe I am alone in this concern, but I wish I could do
parts of 2013 over again, and way too many previous years. I made choices and
mistakes that were ill informed, hurtful to others, and just plain stupid. I know that I am capable of repeating the same
actions in 2014 without inviting and heeding God’s examination. I need Him to
help me see His discernment of my motives and actions. I need to move toward
His transformative work in my life. Without asking for His examination, I will miss
what I truly need, which only He can give.
Please pray Psalm 139:23-24 regularly this year.
