We can pray as David prayed in Psalm 139:23-24, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts. And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way."
You can't really learn that much about me from looking at this picture. Maybe you see a nice looking middle aged woman who is probably of Scandinavian descent. She appears to have blue eyes. Her hair is tied back. She appears happy.
Is any of that true?
I am middle aged. I do not have blue eyes. I am usually content, even happy.
David's prayer of seeing within is a much better gauge of who we are.
Yesterday I was unsettled after opening the mail. A bill caught me off guard -- not that I was surprised it was coming, but of the letter that came with it. It truly isn't a big deal but it hit me wrong yesterday. I got really down within -- it just didn't make sense to me.
It turned out to be a good thing. God used it to uncover a wrong perception in me about myself that is totally not true. Why was He able to use that piece of mail yesterday? I don't know. For if I had opened it the day before it probably wouldn't have phased me in the least.
But spiritual things work like that sometimes.
And now that I see the wrong perception of myself, the diagnosis of a wrong belief if you may, God and I can remove it together.
And that is a very good thing!