During my time in Kuching, we stayed overnight in church on both Saturdays, after the night prayer meeting. The 2nd Sunday morning, I woke up quite early and helped to pluck weeds that was growing around the beautifully trimmed patch of pearl grass.

The small weeds were easy to remove as their roots were not deep but the larger ones required a little more effort. It is definitely easier and quicker to just remove those weeds by plucking and breaking them right above the roots. However, I know the weeds will grow again if their roots were not removed. I wondered why the weeds never fail appear again although we had removed everything including the roots. When can those grass be totally free from being infested with weeds? This is because it does take a lot of effort to regularly remove the weeds by hand.

 

God reminded me how our hearts are like the patch of grass. We must daily seek the Lord, asking Him to search our hearts, to reveal to us, those “weeds” in our hearts. The weeds could be bitterness, unforgiveness, sin, pride, disobedience or anything that is not pleasing before His eyes.

Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

Most of the time, the weeds are usually of the same colour as the grass. If we do not look carefully, we might even mistaken the harmful weeds as part of the grass and think that we are free from weeds. Likewise, if we are not looking through His eyes, we will fail to spot the “weeds” and it is impossible to rid our hearts of all the impurities.

What is deem right or wrong, pure or impure in eyes of God is not defined by the worldly standards, moral laws, majority vote, or by common sense or logic. For the wisdom of this is world is foolishness to God (1Cor 3:19).

He knows us more than we really know ourselves. He searches out heart, knows our real intentions.

Psalms 139:2-4  Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.  For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.

In the His eyes, nothing is hidden.

Hebrews 4:13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Thus, that is why we really need Him to search our hearts, to reveal the truth to us. Only God can help us discern what is right or wrong, to help us “differentiate the weeds from the grass.”  

Having a clean and pure heart before Him is very important, for without it we won’t be able to see Him. Matthew 5:8  Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. How could we say that we are having a constant fellowship with God if our hearts are not right before him?  Can good fruits come from a bad tree?

James 3:11-12  Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.

If our hearts are not right before Him, and if we harbor even a single tiny “weed” in our hearts, then we are considered impure in His eyes. There is no such thing as having a mixture of 50% pure heart and 50% defiled. We can’t serve 2 masters at the same time (Matt 6:24) nor can we be neither hot or cold (Rev 3:15). When Christ comes, He’ll be coming for a church that found to be without spot and blameless. (2 Peter 3:14)

Lastly, in Hebrews 3:7-11

⁷So, as the Holy Spirit says:
   "Today, if you hear his voice,
⁸do not harden your hearts
   as you did in the rebellion,
      during the time of testing in the desert,
⁹where your fathers tested and tried me
      and for forty years saw what I did.
¹⁰That is why I was angry with that generation,
      and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray,
      and they have not known my ways.'
¹¹So I declared on oath in my anger,
      'They shall never enter my rest.' "

What wrong did the Israelites do that made them unable to enter into His rest? It was the condition of their hearts. They hardened their hearts and are always going astray. In the same way, if our hearts are not right before Him, we would not be able to enter into His rest.   

Therefore, lets continue to seek Him daily, asking God to search our hearts, to reveal the “weeds” that besets our hearts. May our hearts be found to be pure and pleasing before Him today, tomorrow and until we see Him again.

 

Psalm 139:23-24  Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 51:10-12  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

 

God Bless.