Search Me, O God

Weeding my garden yesterday made me think about the importance of allowing God to search our hearts and weed out the thoughts and areas that may have started to steal our joy.

Weeding is an important task to do in gardening. It is time-consuming, and no one likes to do it; however, it is necessary for your plants to survive. God is the gardener of our lives. We need to trust Him to weed out the things that can hurt us. My pastor used the scripture Matthew 7:9 “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?” on Sunday to talk about how God sees what we may think of as a fish to really be a serpent. We just need to trust Him. As I was weeding my garden, that verse came back to mind. When the garden is full of weeds, it is hard to sometimes differentiate between a weed and a flower. The same can be true for our lives. We see something as a budding flower, whereas God sees it as a weed that will eventually hurt us, so he “weeds” it out of our lives. This process can be painful, but it is God looking out for us. He knows what is best and sees what will happen if that “weed” is allowed to grow to its potential. 

We must seek God in keeping the garden of our minds and hearts weeded. Psalm 139:23-24 is an excellent prayer to pray when seeking God’s help with this.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”

So many things can try to steal the place in our hearts that is designed for God only. “Search me, O God,” can be a dangerous prayer because sometimes the answer will result in us having to adjust our lives and make us weed some things out of our lives. This could be anything, including technology, relationships, sports, money, or even just thoughts. My biggest one recently has been worry.

 It is so easy to get overwhelmed with worry about health issues, finances, relationships, and work that we forget who is in charge of these areas. God has a plan, and His word promises that He will take care of us.  Philippians 1:6 is a great verse to memorize to combat worry. 

 “being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”  

 We need to seek Him and ask Him to help us turn our worry and fear over to Him. Worry and fear are massive weeds in the garden of our minds. They slowly grow and wrap themselves around every aspect of our lives. They can steal our joy if we don’t hand them to God. We must lift our voices to God, palms up, and say, “Lord, please take this from me. I trust you and know that you will provide for all of my needs as your word promises.”

Now, I will be honest; you may have to do this more than once. God is okay with that. He knows our human hearts are prone to worry and fear. He wants us to seek Him and walk in faith that He will provide for our needs. So friends, when the weed of worry or fear pops up in your mind, allow God to pull that weed up by going to Him and sitting at His feet, trusting that He has it all under control. 

Thank you, Lord, for always being there for your children. Thank you that your word teaches us how faithful you are. Thank you for Jesus, who is our light in this world, and for the Holy Spirit, you sent to guide us through this world. Your love is pure, patient, and perfect. Help us trust you as you prune our lives and minds to help us focus on you. Lead us toward the paths you have set for us. In Jesus’ Holy name, we pray. Amen.