“You have searched me, Lord
and you know me.” (Psalm 139:1)
When I read this verse this morning, the word “searched” popped off the page to me. So in true “word-nerd” form, I looked it up. “Searched” in Hebrew is <chaqar> and means: to penetrate, hence to examine intimately.
I looked up “searched” in the dictionary as well, and one of the entries cut to the heart of me: to look through and explore by inspecting possible places of concealment; to read thoroughly. You see, I like to hide…from people, and from myself. But that isn’t what God wants for me.
Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the Word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between the soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.”
One of the questions I found myself asking was, “God already knows me so why does He “search me”?
GOD ALREADY KNOWS ME
Psalm 139:13, 15 says, “For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body.”
GOD DESIRES TO MAKE ME LIKE JESUS
Romans 8:29 says, ”For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to be conformed to the likeness of His Son…”, and 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “…we are being transformed into [Christ’s] likeness”
So to answer the question “God already knows me so why does He “search me?”, what I came up with was the fact that God does know me, and He knows that I am by nature a “hider”. He searches me to reveal to ME any secret places of concealment that I am hiding.
God searches so He can reveal “me” to me.
As we see in the verses above, God’s goal for me is to make me like Jesus, and I can’t cooperate with the Spirit by making changes in myself that I don’t see and admit need changing.
In Romans 8:29, the word “conformed”, <symmorphos>, means: jointly formed, similar in likeness. And in 2 Corinthians 3:18, the word “transformed” <metamorphoō>, means: to reproduce the same image.
Did you notice that they share a common root – the word “FORM”? The dictionary defines form as: to give a particular shape to : shape or mold into a certain state or after a particular model : to model by instruction and discipline : to give form or shape to.
Ok, think this through with me. In the 2 Corinthian passage the phrase “being transformed” denotes the process; while the phrase “to be conformed” in Romans 8 denotes the result. What strikes me is that God chose me in advance, with the finished product —molded into the likeness of Jesus— as His goal.
Isaiah 64:8 says, “But now, O Lord, You are our Father. We are the clay, and You our Potter; and all of us are the work of Your hand.”
What does a potter do? He FORMS things. With a vision in his mind, a potter will take a lump of clay and work it, transFORMing it until it is conFORMed into what he has envisioned.
Every time I choose to dive into God’s Word and spend time with Him with an open and willing mind and heart, I (the clay) am choosing to allow God (The Potter) to work me over until I become more and more like what His vision is for me—to be like Jesus.
The process seems so daunting to me at times, and when I look at myself in the mirror of God’s word, I could easily get discouraged, allowing my hope of ever really being “like Jesus” to fade away. BUT…(I’m so thankful for the word “but”) I have to remember the truth that the real work is done by the Potter. I just need to choose to remain a soft lump of clay in His hands, allowing Him to do His work.
Philippians 1:6 promises, “…that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ.” I can “be confident” that God will never stop searching me and revealing things to me so that I can “conform” and be “transformed” to be like Jesus.
Thank you Father, that when you look at me, You see so much more than a lifeless lump of clay full of imperfections—You see what You envision me to be one day—like Jesus. Thank you, however painful it may be, that You will be faithful to the process of transforming me into the image of Your Son. Thank you for never giving up on Your work in my life. I love You.