“We must enter the quiet places of our souls to encounter his living presence.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – April 12, 2025
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24, NIV
As a society, we live remarkably extroverted lives. Social media invites us to display every action or thought for all to see. The 24/7 news cycle keeps our curiosity constantly engaged, inviting us to one more click of the mouse or one more tap on the phone. And as we live outside ourselves, our interior lives slowly decay and become unknown to us, like a closet or attic in your home that has been sealed off for years.
The problem with this reality is that the Lord dwells in the heart, and if we cannot enter the quiet places of our souls, we will always struggle to encounter his living presence. To be clear, this is not some kind of navel-gazing introspection but is instead an invitation to have the courage to go deep enough within our souls to finally arrive at the place where the Lord dwells. He longs to meet us there, to renew and transform us from within, making us into sons and daughters who bear his image and likeness, yet we must say “yes” to this invitation and respond to his call.
In his masterful work on prayer, Beginning to Pray, Anthony Bloom reminds us, “You cannot go inwards if you are completely outward.” If we fill our lives with constant stimulation, never-ending entertainment, and mindless distraction, we will be busy yet never fulfilled, sustained but not transformed, alive while never truly living. We must, instead, take the words of Psalm 139 to heart, literally, inviting the Lord to search and know our innermost lives, and then follow him into those places so he can speak his life into every corner of our being.
This is the way of true and abiding prayer, prayer born out of love and intimacy and the unwavering desire to “seek the Lord while he may be found” (Isaiah 55:6).
Prayer
Father, we long to encounter you and know ourselves in light of your love and abiding presence. Steady and calm our souls today, that we may hear from you afresh, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Application
Take 5 or 10 minutes today to sit alone in silence, turning off all distractions, so you can begin cultivating attentiveness to your interior life and learning to listen for the still, small voice of the Lord.
Related Reading
Jeremiah 17:10; Romans 8:27; Hebrews 4:12-13
Worship Resource
CityAlight: God Is For Us
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