March 25 – A Penetrating God (Psalm 51:3-6)

“Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.”(Psalm 51:6)

IN WORD:
David’s confessional psalm contains an acknowledgement of one of God’s greatest desires for us: integrity. The “man after God’s own heart,” the favored king of Israel responsible for much of the Bible’s most beautiful praise, has found within him a gross inconsistency. On the one hand, he has sought God with all his heart and declared his heart upright on numerous occasions. On the other hand, he has sinned. Not just a little, but grievously. There is a wide gap between his stated beliefs and his inner condition. He has discovered within him what we all must discover: God wants His truth & wisdom to reach to our core, not just adorn our outward expressions.
God has made it clear, first through the Law & the prophets, then through Jesus, that He has no tolerance for hypocrisy. None! It is one of the most abominable sins in Scripture. Those who speak pious words in public and then treasure their own corrupted nature privately are far from the heart of God.
David’s great sin does not nullify his devotion. Neither does ours. But it reflects the shallow depth to which God’s Word has penetrated us. To the degree that His wisdom does not reach to our innermost parts — that His Spirit does not transform the very core of our being — then to that degree we have become like the scribes of Jesus’ day: experts in the Word but devoid of its power. In other words, we are hypocritical. Our mouths speak godliness, but our hearts deny it.

IN DEED:
None of us is perfect in our integrity. We all have our inconsistencies. But those inconsistencies should be steadily disappearing if we are growing in the strength of God’s Spirit. Test yourself often. Do the words of your mouth reflect the thoughts of your heart? Like David, we must know that God is zealous for our consistency. We must reflect Him from within, or we don’t reflect Him at all.

“God is not deceived by externals.” -C.S. Lewis-