The Struggle Is Real

King David, who was called, “a man after God’s own heart,” would cry out in a psalm to God: “See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.” Ps. 139:24  David didn’t even trust his own thoughts and he realized that God knew even the things he tried to fool himself into believing.  His son, King Solomon, who is called the Wisest of all, would write this: “I also observed under the sun: there is wickedness at the place of judgment and there is wickedness at the place of righteousness. I said to myself, ‘God will judge the righteous and the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every work. I said to myself, ‘This happens concerning people, so that God may test them and they may see for themselves that they are like animals.” Ecclesiastes 3:16-18  So these two, who trusted God, realized that inside us, even as believers, exists the capability to walk wrong, and justify our walk. When I become honest with myself, I see inside me a desire to be selfish, to be judgmental, to be filled with unrighteous anger, and I know that I have to constantly pray that God will see, this offensiveness and protect me from myself. It is these times when I must surrender that which I cannot see, and want to justify as being acceptable, to the Lord, to see the offense, and create in me a clean heart.  Just as I need to bathe daily to clean the outside, I realize that I must be washed from within by the Spirit of God, to be clean on the inside-daily. That takes dying daily. and surrendering that which I want to hold on to, to the One who sees those things I covet.  Have you realized that you, as a believer, also harbor unrighteous thoughts and possibly even action. I understand that we all will have unhealthy thoughts, and these thoughts are not sin, except when acted on, yet wouldn’t it be better to surrender the thoughts before they become justified actions?  Wouldn’t it be better to use a time every day for the purpose of confronting the test? It’s not that we have to be free of total unhealthy thoughts within us, but that we recognize them as unhealthy and turn them over for cleansing to the Lord. That way, He will indeed by the One who looks at any offensiveness and when we surrender, He leads us in the everlasting way.  Think about it! You don’t have to fail this test, for the answer to the test is surrender it all to Jesus, for He already paid for it on the cross.