“Prove me, O Lord, and try me:
Test my heart and my mind.
For Your steadfast love is before my eyes,
And I walk in Your faithfulness.”
(Psalm 26:2-3)

Last week we studied through the phrases, “Prove me” and “Try me”.  Today let’s look at the next phrase.

“Test my heart and my mind”.  

The word test (ṣārap̄) means to smelt, refine.  Like we saw last week, the testing of metals reveals their content.  God tests to investigate (prove me) our lives, judges what impurity needs to go (try me), and then He begins the refining process (test).  

I watched several videos about the smelting and refining of metals, and I have to say it was fascinating. Smelting is the process by which a metal is obtained from its ore by heating it beyond the melting point; as you apply the heat to the ore, the metal and the ore separate and you can then skim off the impurities that rise to the surface.  Smelting can also be used to authenticate metal’s purity.  Interesting, huh?  Yeah, I thought so too.  

So David is asking God to test his heart and his mind, so let’s take a look at each of those to make sure we understand what he’s asking God to investigate and refine.

The Hebrew word used here for heart (kilyâ) refers to your mind, your interior self – of seat of emotion (how you feel) and affection (what you love); while the word used for mind (lēḇ) refers to your moral character – what you’re inclined towards, what you resolve to do, what you determine to do – your motives.

Just like the high temperatures used in the smelting process separates the ore from the valuable metal, the hard times that God allows into our lives reveal impurities in our character.  If we never face the truth about ourselves, we can’t remove the impurities that weaken the “metal” of our character (pun intended–haha).

“For Your steadfast love is before my eyes, 
And I walk in Your faithfulness”.  

As I sat in that for a minute I saw how much David loved and trusted his God.  If he didn’t, I hardly think that he would have petitioned God to prove, try, and test his heart and mind.  

God allows circumstances to enter our lives that will reveal who we really are, not for the purpose of condemnation (“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus“, Romans 8:1), but for the purpose of our sanctification.  God desires for our lives to reflect His Son, regardless of what comes our way.  

One other thing that I saw in that statement was that what you focus on has a direct effect on what you do.  David’s focus on the steadfast love of his God had a distinct bearing on how he lived out his life. 

Summing it up.  

• God will use our circumstances to show us what we are really made of.
• God will turn up the heat so that He can remove things in us that don’t reflect Jesus.
• Focusing on the steadfast love of God will directly affect our reactions to hard times, as well as the choices we make in dealing with them.