My God Alphabet— X: “X-Ray” Examiner of Humans

Medical technology has opened bold new frontiers in understanding, diagnosing, and treating injuries and diseases. Because of x-rays, CAT scans, ultrasound, and more, medical personnel can see past the surface of our bodies to view organs, bones, and even manifestations of diseases. These fantastic technologies are available to more and more people each day—if only we avail ourselves of them!

An essential component in maintaining health is a physical exam. I don't look forward to going to the doctor, but long ago I decided to schedule regular, routine physicals with my physician. To be sure, there is some pain involved— including the drawing of blood for various tests. However, I submit to this process because I know it is good for my overall physical health.

Like our physical well-being, it's easy to lie to ourselves about our spiritual health. Here's how the prophet Jeremiah put it:

"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)

We are all prone to diminish or rationalize the evidence of personal, spiritual, and moral decay until our life crumbles around us. Even then It can be hard to see the reality of our condition as we try to hide or anesthetize the emptiness and pain within.

Enter God: The Perfect Examiner of all things seen and unseen.
God carefully "x-rays" and knows the state of our being with the light of His Presence:

"I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind…"
(Jeremiah 17:10)

God—the One who created everything out of nothing—knows absolutely everything about each of us. The writer of Psalm 139 wrote:

"Is there any place I can go to avoid your Spirit?
To be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you're there!
If I go underground, you're there!
If I flew on morning's wings
to the far western horizon,
You'd find me in a minute—
you're already there waiting!
Then I said to myself, "Oh, he even sees me in the dark!
At night I'm immersed in the light!"
It's a fact: darkness isn't dark to you;
night and day, darkness and light, they're all the same to you."
(Psalm 139:7-12, The Message)

We can't hide from the perfect, all-encompassing "x-ray" vision of God. God is the ultimate examiner of human hearts, thoughts, motives, and actions. This fact can be either comforting or frightening, depending on your spiritual health. Far above and beyond any medical doctor, God's view of our lives spans from before our conception to beyond our final breath. The Psalm writer put it this way:

"Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother's womb…
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I'd even lived one day.
(Psalm139:17, 18-22, The Message)

Truth be told, all of us have blind spots and failings—minor and major—as well as regrets and pain from the past or even today. Perhaps something came to your mind as you read that last sentence. I encourage you to bring it to the cross of Christ, the Ultimate Examiner of human beings, who also is the perfect remedy and cure for all your sins and failures— every one of them.

It takes courage and humility to come to Christ and allow Him to examine the state of your heart, mind, and life. But it's worth it! He loves you and can transform everything about you into something new and beautiful. Allow God's light to shine on your life's dark areas—then let Him do the work of infusing you with His new life, a new purpose, a healed past, and a great future. The writer of Psalm 139 penned a beautiful prayer that I use often. I invite you to pray it with me:

"Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting." (Psalm 139:23-24)

The Great "X-ray" Examiner of human beings can fill you and lead you to the incredible life and eternity He has prepared for you.

I pray you will turn to Him. God bless you!

Chris Atkins