Two-minute read.
When God searches our hearts for motives, He doesn’t miss a thing. The Lord gives us breath; it permeates every aspect of our body, bringing life to us. When we allow His light to search our hearts, exposing our iniquities, it frees us from the bondage. Once we recognize a problem, we can address it, but if we don’t know about our issues, we can’t heal them.
In the Bible, iniquity is a type of sin that includes a conscious decision to hurt someone else or to rebel against God’s law. From an etymological perspective, scholars relate the Hebrew word עָוֹן (avon), meaning literally “crookedness,” “perverseness,” i.e., “evil regarded as that which is not straight or upright, moral distortion.” [1]
Hiding within our hearts, each of us has sin battles. When we have selfish motives, we try to hide them behind our actions. But God knows the inner workings of our souls and our true intentions. Revealing them to us helps us overcome them and prevents them from ruling our lives any longer.
For instance, I struggle with envy, desiring what someone else has that I don’t. I envy other people’s success —friends of friends, people who have grandchildren, and on and on the list goes. But when the Lord highlights the emotion, it allows me to conquer it. Instead of harboring hard feelings, I give them to the Savior and celebrate the other person’s blessing. Only then do I find victory.
When God reveals a sin hidden in our hearts, He corrects it with gentleness. Not with condemnation, but with love, the Lord shows us a different way to respond, helping us overcome the issue, purifying our hearts, and making us more like Christ. Nothing feels better than the chains of sin breaking and the Holy Spirit filling our hearts with His presence.
Let the Lord’s light search your heart, find freedom as He reveals truth to you, allowing you to become more like Christ.
Journal Question:
How does having God search your heart make you feel?
In what ways has God corrected you in the past?
What does letting go of your sin mean to you?
Prayer:
Lord, we thank You for Your presence in our lives, the breath You give us to breathe, and Your light that searches out iniquities in us. Please help us give You more of ourselves, seeking Your will for our lives.
IJNIP. Amen
[1] https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/what-is-iniquity-in-the-bible.html#:~:text=Share,’%E2%80%9D
