Psalm 139 begins: 'You have searched me, Lord , and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. (NIVUK) Of this, the Psalmist says, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me”. When I read this, I sense that David is unnerved by the realization that God is so close and knows so much. The Message says, “I can’t take it all in!” And in the subsequent verses (back to NIVUK) David says, 'Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? ' There are many places in the Bible where we see God changing hearts. To name a few: • In Genesis 28-32, God changes Jacob's heart. In his encounter with the manifestation of God, he finally faces his problems head-on. Until then, he had tricked and connived his way through life. God attributes his new name to this change: Israel. • In Acts 9, God changes Saul’s heart–from a life of persecuting Christians to one of preaching The Word. He calls Paul (his Roman name) to a ministry of preaching to the very people he had persecuted. • Here in Psalm 139, the evidence of David’s changed heart is found in the final verses: '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.' Instead of “where can I go?”, he now pleads, “search me”. How do we apply this to our lives and our relationships–to our friends and family? Do we seek God’s will in their lives through intercessory prayer? Or do we map our own way and then ask God to bless it? Likewise, do we invite our Christian friends to “know our hearts”--to share what is weighing on us and invite them to pray for us? In that prayer, do we allow God to change our hearts and others’? His methods and timing may surely differ from ours! On Sunday, we heard what Jesus had to say about putting others ahead of ourselves (Luke 14:7-11). One Biblical application of that is to seek the sanctification of others. That is to say, “LORD, show me how to be your instrument.” Let us pray that IBC is a community seeking how God changes our hearts and the hearts of others. In so doing, we give Him the glory. God Bless You IBC! Karl