Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.  Hebrews 4:13

When you go to your doctor for a physical, he thumps you, feels you for swelling, and otherwise pokes and prods.  Like a policeman searching for a thief, he’s looking for anything that can cause you trouble.  And if he finds anything that seems irregular, he wants to check it out.  When I had a physical a few years ago, the doctor found a tiny lump near my collarbone.  “Hum!” he said in that not-so comforting doctor tone, “we had better check this out.”  He did, too.  He wanted a biopsy—a tiny bit of flesh (my flesh, of course), which could be put under a microscope and examined.  He explained that he would numb the spot and use a needle to get to the heart of the problem.

But when he brought out the needle, I thought, “Wow! There’s nothing tiny about that, and he’s going to jab me with it!” He did, and it wasn’t all that bad, and everything was OK.  But I’ve been thinking about the whole procedure.  Sometimes looking within and taking a few moments for reflection can be very healthful.  David did that, and he was described in the book of Acts as a man after God’s own heart.  He prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23,24).

In effect, David asked God to take a biopsy of his heart, the kind that a cardiologist cannot do, and see what dark lurking evil might lie within—a pretty bold and even scary thought because when God diagnoses your inner thoughts, He makes no mistakes.

What are some of the evils which can be detected by a spiritual biopsy?  Here are a few possibilities: pride, arrogance, hatred, jealousy, coldness, envy, lust, an unbridled tongue, and a host of others.

Here’s a rather personal question.  If God should do a biopsy of your heart and have the angels in the laboratory of heaven put it under the microscope and prepare a report, what do you think they would find?  The fact is that most of us don’t need a spiritual biopsy.  We know what lurks in our hearts.

A pastor once preached a message on “besetting sins” and a young man came to him and said, “Pastor, I would confess my besetting sins but I just don’t know where to start.”  The pastor replied, “When you kneel down before God, the first one that comes to your mind is where you need to start.”

A closing thought:  God already knows what is in your heart.  He knows it all.  He sees it all, and He takes note of the true condition of your life.  The New Testament writer of Hebrews put it like this: “He knows about everyone, everywhere. Everything about us is bare and wide open to the all-seeing eyes of our living God; nothing can be hidden from him to whom we must explain all that we have done” (Hebrews 4:13, Living Bible).  But David himself knew this. He began the psalm I quoted, saying, “O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.  You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.  You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways” (Psalm 139:1-3).

But instead of thinking of God as a policeman, a judge with a black book recording our failures, David thought of Him as a loving Father who will forgive and who will guide us into the path of righteousness.  “But with you there is forgiveness; therefore, you are feared,” David also wrote in Psalm 130:4.  It’s still true.

Resource reading:  Psalm 139:1-13