A Spiritual Sonogram
December 9, 2018
In the past two weeks Molly and I have learned more than we ever we wanted to know about the many ways that doctors can look inside the body. They can use MRI, sonogram, X-Ray, mammogram, needle biopsy, CT scan, and even surgery to reveal what is hidden from the outside. This is all for our benefit, even though it may be uncomfortable or painful. Doctors use all available technology, and like a game of hide-and-seek, they try to find what is hiding. As I thought about all of this technology that is needed to see our insides, I thought about how God uses His omniscience to see inside ourselves for our benefit, even though it’s not always painless. Psalm 139:1-4. “1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. 3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all.”
I find comfort in these words. God is omniscient. There is nothing outside of His knowledge. Hebrews 4:13: “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” Down to every thought I think, God knows what no doctor on earth with the most advanced technology can ever know. Doctors can see our organs and tissues, but God can see our souls. If you don’t know the goodness of God, these verses might seem terrifying. God knows our wicked thoughts. He knows if we are only doing good works so that we can steal His glory. He knows when we question His goodness or doubt His plans. He knows when we blatantly disobey Him. Rebellion against the king of the universe is high treason and deserves death.
Yet God still wants to help us. He knows our helplessness to stand before Him because of our sin. When we were unbelievers, God used His omniscience to expose our own sin to us so that we would repent of it and trust in Jesus for our salvation. He also uses His omniscience to expose and root out sin after we become believers so we will become more like his Son. So these verses are not scary at all because God is good.
We can’t trust just anyone with our secrets. We fiercely protect our personal information so that identity thieves cannot steal from us. We shield the pin-pad when checking out at the store. We don’t tell anyone our social security number unless we absolutely must. We know that there are bad guys on the internet who would rather empty our bank accounts than get jobs. But our secrets are safe with God. David trusted God so completely that at the end of Psalm 139, he asked God to do a multi-point inspection of his heart. Here’s what he said: 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. It’s not a question of whether God know the secrets and sinfulness of your heart. He surely does. It’s a question of whether you will hide from Him like Adam and Eve in the garden, or whether like David, you will turn to Him and allow Him to work in your life to make you more like his Son.
It’s not fun to go to the doctor and submit to various tests, but we do it because we know the doctor is doing them for our benefit, and we care about our physical health. Avoiding the doctor will only result in worse problems later. In the same way, God’s spiritual inspection may not be pleasant, but if we avoid it, we may miss a diagnosis that could save us trouble later. Spiritual inspection, if we will submit to it, is done by our good God who will use what He knows for our spiritual health. So ask God to do a spiritual sonogram on your life. He will use it for your good.
