Everything Is Just Fine – Or Is It?
A tale that seems as old as time is driving your seemingly perfectly operating car to the mechanic for a simple oil change only to get a list of problems you didn’t know existed. And if you’re like me, the skeptic in you rises up and thinks, “There’s no way! Everything has been running just fine!”
That skepticism bit me several years ago when the diagnostic reported a problem with my truck’s exhaust system. I politely declined the recommended repair thinking it was nothing more than a money grab but soon found myself broken down on the side of the road just a few weeks later. I have since learned that it’s a very good thing to have someone who knows what to look for go under the hood every three months!
The same is true for our lives with Jesus and in ministry. Everything can appear to be running just fine. But is it? Or have I grown accustomed to the way things are?
Psalm 139:23-24 has always struck me as a prayer that I should be more diligent to pray. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”
But really, it is so much more than a prayer. It is a necessity.
What I had never noticed until recently is that Psalm 139 starts with a similar thought. “O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me.” The psalmist goes on to unpack this by detailing how our Lord knows the details of our lives, our comings and our goings, and even every word we are going to say before we say it. He, the One who created each of us, has an intimate knowledge of who we really are.
So when the psalm is bookended with the request to be searched and even exposed, it is as if there is an acknowledgement of, “I have no way of knowing what’s really going on under the hood. I desperately need the expert to tell me.”
I have been thinking about this a lot this week as we begin a new year of ministry together. Could there be areas of my life that seem to be humming right along just fine, but maybe that’s only because I’ve grown accustomed to it? In order to answer that question, I need to ask the expert to search the areas that I can’t see and point out to me what needs to be fixed.
The same is true for our churches and ministries. As a local church pastor, I often felt that the most dangerous time for the church was when everything seemed “just fine.” That usually simply meant that traditions were being followed, the bills were being paid, and the tithers were happy. On the contrary, when we were pursuing a God-sized dream or being obedient to fixing areas that the Spirit brought to light, it was usually accompanied with some sort of pushback, discomfort, or even conflict. And often that conflict and pushback sounded a lot like me at the mechanic – “There’s no way we need to do that. Everything has been running just fine!”
As you begin a new year, I challenge you – actually, I dare you – to take this prayer from Psalm 139 and pray it over your life, over your family, and over your church. Then simply listen. Because if we ask God to point out anything that offends Him, there should be plenty to hear as long as we are on this side of eternity, and the result will be a clear direction for where we should go next.
But the best part of this is that our Father is faithful to answer that prayer, and He can be trusted! It is for His glory and for our benefit that He works in a way that our lives and our churches don’t end up like me and my truck -- broken down on the side of the road.
I am praying for each of you and your churches, anticipating what God will do in 2025! If we allow Him to lead the way, everything really will be just fine.
