READING: 2 Samuel 19:31–20:26, Psalm 7, 2 Samuel 21:1-22, 1 Chronicles 20:4-8
The psalmist knew that God looks deeply into our hearts and minds – that is, deeply into our inmost being (Psa 7:9). God is the one who judges the nations. He is righteous and just, uncompromisingly holy. Yet, He knows us intimately. He knows our thoughts and our emotions, our fears and our joys, our struggles and our victories. He who created all our inward parts and put us together in our mother’s womb (Psa 139:13) knows all about us; we hide nothing from Him.
Here are words of Augustine that speak to this issue: “For our works, which we do in deeds and words, may be known unto men; but with what mind they are done, and to what end we would attain by means of them, He alone knoweth, the God who searcheth the hearts and reins.”* At the same time, though, there is humble confidence in the heart when God looks there and finds in our own lives faithfulness and commitment, when He finds there a heart that is “true and right” (Psa 7:10).
May God find that kind of faithfulness in us today. We can thank Him because He is just and sing His praises because He is the Lord Most High (Psa 7:17).
PERSONAL REFLECTION: What will God find in your heart and mind today?
TODAY’S PRAYER: “Father, peer deeply into my soul, and show me where I must grow.”
TOMORROW’S READING: 2 Samuel 22:1-51, Psalm 18
* Augustine of Hippo. (1888). Expositions on the Book of Psalms. In P. Schaff (Ed.), & A. C. Coxe (Trans.), Saint Augustin: Expositions on the Book of Psalms (Vol. 8, p. 24). Christian Literature Company.