Wicked Ways

Wicked Ways

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Psalm 139:23-24

In Psalm 139, David bravely invites God to search his heart, asking him to point out anything offensive. The King James Version says it more forcefully: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” The phrase “wicked way” vividly describes what is off kilter in a person’s life. It can literally be translated as the “way of pain.”^a

Certainly the “way of pain” can be seen in personal experience. Sin deforms and destroys, spreading pain to whomever it touches. That is why God hates it.

Though we share God’s hatred for sins like murder, rape, and theft, many of us find other sins more tolerable. What is so bad about a little bit of gossip, a touch of greed, an isolated flirtation with lust? These seem more like ways of pleasure than pain. And so we indulge them, refusing to consider where they will eventually lead us.

The way to the good life, to life everlasting, is to find peace with God by embracing what he thinks is good, whether or not it appears good to us. Remember the words of the proverb: “There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death” (Proverbs 14:12). Join me today in asking God to uncover any way of pain that has burrowed its way into your heart, whether from your sins or the sins of others. May the Lord be gracious to you, healing, forgiving, and restoring. And may he lead you in the way everlasting.

Father, put a spotlight on my heart and show me what is there. Help me to repent of whatever displeases you, trusting that your grace is sufficient to deal with the things in my life that need to change.

^a I first encountered this insight in a reflection by Carol Knapp in Daily Guideposts 2011 (New York: Guideposts, 2011), 14.