FRIDAY 30th
Psalm 64
NIV (v6) – ‘They plot injustice and say, “We have devised a perfect plan!” Surely the human mind and heart are cunning.’
ESV (v6) – ‘They search out injustice, saying, “We have accomplished a diligent search.” For the inward mind and heart of a man are deep.’
It was the last sentence in our verse today that caught my attention, as the psalmist describes the scheming and planning of those who are plotting against him, he concludes that the inward mind and heart of a man are deep or cunning as the NIV puts it. Another word we could use is crafty, devising a strategy to come as David’s enemy to destroy him, you can hear them after their discussion saying, ‘we have a crafty or cunning plan, nobody will ever outfox us.’ Mankind often thinks like this, deep in his heart or in his thoughts, thinking that what is deep in the heart and in the mind will never be exposed or known by anyone else unless he himself spills the beans. Even when we may think that we can read what is going on in the heart and mind of our nearest and dearest the more we get to know them by their demeanour or actions, we can never know, uncover or expose their deepest thoughts, but there is One who can!
In Hebrews 4:12 we read about the powerful and the living word of God and it continues to say that the word of God is so powerful that it can discern the thoughts and the intentions of the heart, and then it says that ‘no creature is hidden from his (God’s) sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account’. (v13) We may try to hide our thoughts and cover up our intentions, we may try to mask the reasons behind some of the things we say or do, we may try to find reasons to justify our behaviour when it is counter to the standard that God sets in his word, but at the end of the day, we cannot hide from God, he knows the deep inner recesses of our hearts and minds and will one day expose the deception of everything that we have tried to mask or hide. Even those things that we never uncover or make known, those wrong thoughts, the lust we may have harboured, the murderous thoughts we may have played out in our minds etc. God knows all about them and one day we will have to give an account before him of all that we have failed to bring to him beforehand in repentance.
Going right back to the book of Genesis we have the account of the moment when Adam and Eve transgressed, they had chosen to listen to the lie, to the craftiness and the subtlety of the devil, but the record of Scripture says that immediately that they had transgressed they became aware of their wrongdoing,
It says ‘that immediately their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin cloths.’ (Genesis 3:7) And then what did they do? They tried to hide from God! It says, ‘they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.’ (v8) Imagine trying to hide from the all-knowing and the all-seeing God! He called out to them, not because he did not know where they were, or what they had done, but it gave them an opportunity to confess up to it all. Let me rewind, imagine trying to hide from the all-knowing and the all-seeing God! And yet how often do we try to do this? You may even be doing this today as you are reading this devotion! We think deep in our hearts, we try to make excuses, no one else will know, no one else will see what is in my mind and on my heart, but there is One who does. We cannot hide from him, we cannot hide anything from him, and one day it will all be exposed. Surely this should lead each one of us to want to live the best that we possibly can with integrity and righteousness not only with our external actions but within the deep recesses of our hearts and minds before the Almighty God to whom one day we will have to give an account.
One of the marvels of modern medicine is the ability to x-ray and to do CT scans etc, to look for and to identify disease and cancers etc. We are so grateful for these modern inventions that enable that which is internal and hidden from the human eye to be exposed and then hopefully treated, in Psalm 139 David prays ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thought!’ he is as it continues to say asking God to see if there is any grievous way in him, that is to take up my analogy, asking God to x-ray his heart and mind and to see if there is any spiritual disease that needs to be exposed and dealt with, may we (yes take note that I said WE, for I speak to myself as I prepare these devotions as well) may we likewise do the same, allow the thoughts and intentions which are counter to what they should be, to be exposed and dealt with now, rather than having to be uncovered when we stand before Almighty God.