Lead me in the everlasting way

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; 24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way. - Psalm 139:23-24 The majority of the time when we think about prayer, we are focused only on what God can do for us or others. However, the more we seek God in prayer (I Thess 5:17) and study His Word (II Tim 2:15), the more opportunities there are for Him to transform our lives tremendously. When our posture of prayer is focused on baring ourselves raw and open before Him, the more He is able to lead us in “the everlasting way.” I don’t know about you, but I want God to search all those hidden crevices within me that I pretend aren’t there. My pastor’s wife challenged me in a bible study recently. She asked that we do personal introspection by examining whether we trivialize, rationalize or generalize the sin in our lives. Trivialize: minimize the sin – it’s not a big deal Rationalize: Justify or explain away our actions Generalize: Not being specific about our infractions, lumping our sin together and not wholly taking responsibility for them. Whew! If you’re like me, you’ve just gotten punched in the gut by the Holy Spirit because that resonated with you! I know I’m guilty of doing ALL of those at one time or another! We have a way of justifying why we do what we do and we gloss over the fact that it’s seen as sin in God’s eyes! Oh, that we would see sin the same way God sees sin! As you go through your day today, speak this scripture over your life – ask God to search you, know you, try you – and if there is any hurtful way in you (for yourself and for others), don’t trivialize it, don’t rationalize it, don’t generalize it – call it by its name – lay it bare before the Lord, and let Him lead you in the everlasting way!