Psalm 139:23

Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts;

     The Psalmist here expresses what should be the desire of any servant of God. We need to constantly have ourselves searched. But God does not juts shout out in a bellowing voice what our hearts say and what our thoughts are. He expects us to study our hearts and our minds to find out if they are in compliance with His word. He uses the combination of our experiences and His inspired message to show us if we have any fault.

     What is amazing about searching ourselves is the power of emotion. Emotion affects so many things in our lives. Depending on how we feel, someone’s sarcastic remark may be met with a laugh or a lecture and anywhere in between. How content we are in our current circumstances can be altered by how we feel. We need to realize and respect that vast power that emotions can have in our lives.

     That is why when we search ourselves we need to make sure that our emotions are not ruling over us. We need to beware of factors that could negatively impact our emotions. For example, if you are extremely tired, you are more likely to be agitated by being inconvenienced. Yet if we recognize that we are tired and thus more likely to be frustrated, we can acknowledge or ignore the anger and act as we know we should. By studying ourselves and being aware of our emotions, we control ourselves that much better.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts;