Read: Psalm 139
Reflect: Did you know there’s no great scientific name for boogers? The best I found was “dried nasal mucus”. I was hoping for something a bit better sounding for a church devotional but I guess we will stick with boogers.
An unnamed three-year-old proudly shouted from the back car seat, “Mom! Guess what I have?” I ventured with a cautious “What is it?” and she quickly responded with “A big booger from my nose!” Apparently, my response informing her how disgusting that was led to her realization that this was not a great accomplishment to brag about. She quickly said, “Oh! It’s okay! It’s gone!” This obviously prompted the question of where exactly she relocated it to.
Her response, “Back in my nose.”
Sin (not unlike boogers) is an ugly thing. There have been times in my life where my sin has come to light. I have almost showed it off proudly, only to look around and realize what I was doing. But then – instead of taking my sin to the feet of Jesus I stuff it back in, just like a three-year-old with her boogers. I don’t want to deal with it. I want to ignore it and hope it will go away on its own. I want to put it back into hiding where no one else can notice it.
Psalm 139 is beautiful. It is well known. It is often quoted. It is a critical reminder for exactly why our sin cannot be hidden from our Lord. We serve a God who has searched us. A God who can knows when we sit and when we rise. A God who perceives our thoughts from afar. A God who discerns our goings. A God familiar with our ways. A God who knows us completely…. even the boogers we have stuffed back inside.
Let our prayer be the same as David’s. “Search me, God, and know my heart.” (Psalm 139:23). We serve an all-powerful Lord. A Lord who already knows all there is to know about our innermost beings. Instead of holding onto those boogers, that sin that persists, those ugly parts of our lives, let us lay it all at the feet of Jesus.
Apply: What sin are you holding onto? What parts of your life are you pretending that God cannot see? Let Psalm 139 be that beautiful reminder that we have a Lord who created our innermost beings and knows our every thought. Let us come to the one who loves us enough to lay down his life for us and confess our sin to him.
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