Camouflaged Heart
Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24
I am convinced that I am often offensive to Him! Not that I want to be, mind you, but it still happens often. I try to present a better picture of myself to others but He sees right through my foolishness.
When I…
· choose starting the coffee before starting my quiet time with Him.
· laugh at an inappropriate joke.
· judge others.
· say unkind words about someone who cut me off in traffic.
· avoid answering the phone calls from needy friends.
· start my COVID rampage soapbox speech.
· pretend to be okay when I am not.
· value approval from family and friends more than His.
Now, that is enough negative. Yes, we offend our Creator every day with some conscious and some crazy unconscious thoughts and actions. Aren’t you glad He knows us through and through? Really, there is nothing we could say or do that would change His mind about loving us. After all, He made us. He knows us better than anyone else. Yes, of course, you have your family, partner, husband/wife or best friends to catch you when you go into free-fall mode. Personally, I would rather hear His voice asking, “What are you doing and why?” before I jump. Humans tend to rationalize but He is pretty straight forward.
He must get a good chuckle when He observes our antics. I know I do some laughable things! I want my heart to be open but there are times when I try to camouflage it. I can almost hear Him saying, “That camouflage is not your color. You do not wear it very well.”
There are many things that we can change but on our own, we cannot make the big transformations work. Those take time and He has to point them out to us. Ouch! There is, however, good news; He walks with us and does not leave us alone during difficult times.
If we are vulnerable to Him, we can more easily feel and receive His Love that flows into us through our openness to Him. From personal experience, I do know that His powerful love fills in the cracks and crevices in my life. That eventually leads back to a sense of pure joy as I recognize that I am perfectly known and loved forever! I don’t need to use camouflage!
The first one below shares how Sons and Daughters has been inspired to worship. The second one is a worship song they have written (and it is lovely).
Vulnerability and Following Jesus
Father God, help me to be increasing real with You—dropping all pretenses and becoming fully open to You. AMEN.