“Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.”
Psalm 141:23-24
Once you have searched your heart before the Lord, confessed any uncleanness, then you are free from shame and condemnation of the past and free to move forward into the present with grace and peace. Then if you encounter hard times, you can know for sure that there is no punishment involved, just pruning. Life happens! We dwell in Satan’s realm. When you live in a garbage pit, you will get garbage on you. But, when your heart is right before God, you are clean in the midst! Then your heart can hear God and He can surely lead you in the everlasting way.
Sometimes the searching of our hearts and the trying and knowing of anxious thoughts is painful. But once, that surgery has been performed, you are free to move forward. Philippians 3:13 says, “Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do; forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Ignoring the past, dragging it along behind you, pretending that it is not there, or allowing Satan to bring it up in your face with lies and doubt will not permit you to put it behind you. Only when you have offered your past up to the Lordship of Christ and accepted His forgiveness and grace can you move forward.
Lay it all out there before Christ. He knows it all already anyway. Just confess it, and then turn from it and move forward. That’s repentance. The shame, the sorrow, the heartache of the past will then stay in the past and God can lead you in the everlasting way. Surrender it to Christ for healing and wholeness.
