Mind Reader
“How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults. Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don’t let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalms 19:12-14 NLT
David prayed a deeply significant prayer when he asked God to help him with all sin in his life—both deliberate sins and the “hidden faults” buried deep in his heart that he might not even be aware of. This was a brave prayer to pray, and what an example he set for us to follow.
We want to be proud of who we are and feel like we’re getting things right, so it can be tempting to lie to ourselves about our motives in order to feel better. Asking God to help us face these things requires real honesty and a genuine commitment to change.
Even though we may have the ability to fool ourselves by justifying our motives, God is quite the mind reader. Our Maker knows what truly lies in the depths of our hearts, and we can’t hide anything from Him. We see this time and time again throughout both Old and New Testament Scripture—from God knowing Noah was the only righteous person on earth (Genesis 7:1), to Jesus knowing how harshly a Pharisee was judging Him for allowing a sinful woman to wash and anoint His feet (Luke 7:36–37), to the disciples arguing about who was the greatest (Luke 9:46–47), and many more examples.
This passage describes just how well Jesus knows all of us:
“Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him. But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew all about people. No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person’s heart.” John 2:23-25
Truly, just as Romans 3:23 says, we all fall short of God’s standard. Thankfully, Jesus came and made a way for us to be made right with Him.
“We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.” Romans 3:22-24
No wonder David is referred to as a “man after God’s heart” (Acts 13:22). It certainly wasn’t because of his lack of sin—he made some pretty big mistakes. It was his desire to be fully washed clean from sin, both the ones he committed intentionally and the underlying motives deep down that are often the hardest to deal with.
Are you willing to take an honest look at your motives like David did? What would you find there?
It isn’t hopeless if we discover that our motives can sometimes be self-seeking, hateful, or just flat-out sinful. But it isimportant that we choose to do something about it. Will we surrender everything to Jesus—even the things that are difficult to admit? This is where true freedom is found.
It’s also comforting to know that our Savior sees when our motives are pure. Sometimes we are falsely accused by others of having wrong motives when we are genuinely trying to do something good. This can be incredibly painful, and it’s hard not to become defensive. Trying to please others—whether by defending our good motives or excusing our bad ones—is exhausting. When we turn our eyes to Jesus and allow Him to do the inner work of healing our hearts, the desire for approval from others begins to disappear as we focus on the only One who truly matters.
May we fix our eyes on Jesus—the One who knows the depths of our hearts and still chose to give His life for us. May our daily walk with Him refine us to become more and more like Him, inside and out, with each passing day.
