God Knows My Heart

I remember a story of a child who was too scared to go into a dark room. The mother said, "Don't be scared. Your guardian angel is with you." The child replied, "That's what I'm scared of."

Lots of people say, "God knows my heart." They usually mean it as a way to justify themselves. "Yes, everyone at work may be angry with me, but God knows my heart." I think like that child in the story before that's what we should be scared of. God knows our hearts. His assessment of the human heart is not always  positive. "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.Who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). "But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people" (John 2:24).

Thomas Brooks in his book Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices said, "Christ, the Scripture, your own hearts, and Satan’s devices, are the four prime things that should be first and most studied and searched. If any cast off the study of these, they cannot be safe here, nor happy hereafter."

I have found some pretty basic heart tests mostly through failing them.

How do I react when someone disagrees with me?
How do I react when someone tailgates me or cuts in front of me?
How do I react when I'm disappointed in a person?
How do I react to criticism?
How do I react when I'm overlooked?
How do I react to jealousy?
How do I react to unsolicited advice?
How do I react when someone corrects the way I do something?

I find any automatic turn to anger or a quick defensiveness as pretty good signs that I'm in for a hearty dose of God's grace to transform my heart.

Father, you know my heart. Please change it once again today! "As the deer pants for streams of water,so my soul pants for you (Psalms 42:1).

I got the Brook's quote from the following blog post:  http://www.challies.com/reading-classics-together/satan-loves-to-sail-with-the-wind#more