Honesty in Seeking God

Learning about myself

If you had the choice, which would you rather be: wrong or corrected? When you have done something wrong and don't realize it, do you wish to remain blissfully wrong or do you wish to be shown your wrong and be corrected? It seems so many people, including me too often, dislike and resist being corrected. Amazingly, they seem to prefer being wrong!

So what is your disposition toward sin and shortcoming in your life?

Job was very confident of his own innocence. He did not believe his suffering revealed or proved any unrighteousness in him. I would say he was understandably defensive about his integrity and guiltlessness. He resisted (and, it seems, resented) being falsely accused by his friends. Because of all that, I don't know how he meant this: "How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin" (Job 13:23). Though it could be taken as self-righteousness defensiveness, I'm inclined to believe that it actually was sincere openness. I believe Job truly wanted to learn about himself and any hidden or ignored sin or shortcoming in his life.

That's how I want to be. I want God to make show me my errors and sins. I don't want to continue being wrong; I want to be right -- even if it means being corrected. And I want that enough that I'll even accept God's correction through another (Galatians 2:11; 6:1; James 5:19).

Assured by His foreknowledge

I am blessed by the realization that God knows me as well as knowing about me. I am encouraged also by the assurance that He knows the course of my life even before I experience it. As Job put it, "He knoweth the way that I take" (Job 23:10).

Today I am living in unfamiliar territory, as it were. I have never been through this day before. I have no idea what's coming; I don't know what to expect. The foreseeable future isn't -- that is, I can't foresee the future. I can't see even one second into the future. "But he knoweth the way that I take"!

God knows the agenda for my life for today. He knows if my life has any tomorrows left -- and should there be any, He knows my life's agenda for them as well. Unlike me, He knows what's coming because from the very beginning He has known the end and all that will transpire in between (Isaiah 46:10).

One way in which this foreknowledge of God blesses me is that I can be sure that He does all He can to prepare me for what's coming. He knows when I will be tested by adversity and when I will be tested by prosperity. Not only does He know when, He also knows how. Knowing all that, He strives to prepare me for the test so that I might pass it successfully, so that "when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23:10). Isn't that terrific!