During my devotion time, I came across a phrase and couldn’t get away from it: “Search me, O God, and know my heart” (Ps. 139:23 NKJV). I rolled it over in my mind, “God, don’t You know my heart? You made me, and You live within me. What else do You want to know?”
As I began to study, one reference took me to Job 31:6 (NKJV), “Let me be weighed on honest scales, that God may know my integrity.” I wondered if that’s what the Lord meant and plugged the word “integrity” into Psalm 139 in place of the word “heart.”
Search me, O, God, and know my integrity.
But what does that really mean? Integrity seems hard to come by these days! I looked up definitions and found things like being honest, having such strong moral principles that you refuse to change, and being complete or undivided. These are all things of the heart.
- Integrity Is a Heart Issue
The first thing I discovered is that integrity is a matter of the heart. It doesn’t deal with actions as much as it deals with the inner man.
Psalm 7:8 (NKJV)
8 The Lord shall judge the peoples; judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, and according to my integrity within me.
- Integrity Preserves You
This is a serious issue! I believe we are in the last days. God needs His people not only to do the right things but also to have integrity of heart so He can protect us.
Psalm 25:21 (NKJV)
21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for You.
Psalm 41:11–12 (NKJV)
11 By this I know that You are well pleased with me, because my enemy does not triumph over me.
12 As for me, You uphold me in my integrity, and set me before Your face forever.
- Integrity Guides You
When you don’t know what to do, integrity will help you make the right decision.
In the face of testing and trials, you choose whether to hold on to integrity or let it go.
Proverbs 11:3 (NKJV)
3 The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them.
- Integrity Brings Confidence
You are confident when you know you have nothing to hide. You can say, “Bring it on! Test me! I’ll come out clean.”
Psalm 26:1–2 (NKJV)
1 Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity. I have also trusted in the Lord; I shall not slip.
2 Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my mind and my heart.
- Integrity Is a Choice
In the face of testing and trials, you choose whether to hold on to integrity or let it go. The devil tried to destroy Job without cause. But God said, “he holds fast to his integrity” (Job 2:3 NKJV).
Job 27:3–5 (NKJV)
3 As long as my breath is in me, and the breath of God in my nostrils,
4 My lips will not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.
5 Far be it from me that I should say you are right; till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
Let me ask you the same question Job’s wife asked, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity?” (Job 2:9 NKJV). When the world around you becomes corrupt, do you cling to purity? When life gets tough and temptations come, do you remain firm in your principles? Do you still trust God? Will you swerve in your commitments or persist in your faith?
Three Ways to Keep Integrity Intact
1) Weigh with honest scales (Job 31:6). Dishonest merchants in those days could tamper with the scales to make more money. If you have seen a judge’s scale with two sides that balance, imagine if the seller secretly added rocks when he weighed the product. The buyer would be swindled!
That’s what the world does. They use perverted scales. What seems to be true is not, and we weigh ourselves against a lie. Satan’s plan is to twist the truth, so we do not have integrity! We get into grey areas and allow ourselves to drift into simple little things that everyone is doing. But it’s still a heart issue.
What do you think about when nobody is around? They might not be things you would ever act on. But that’s where sin starts—in the heart. Proverbs 4:23 says we are to guard our hearts with all diligence because out of it spring the issues of life. So weigh your thoughts against the Word of God! Does it line up? Does it balance? Or are they opposed and out of sync?
2) Refuse to let circumstances impair you. Definitions of integrity include “having unchanging moral principles and an unimpaired condition.” Christians often start out great, so what changes? Usually it’s circumstances.
When you are hurt by a situation and your heart becomes calloused, it affects the way you think and eventually your actions. It’s easy to be offended when someone lies about you. If someone you respect has a moral failure, you can become cynical and jaded. It hardens your heart, and now you are impaired!
We are human and make mistakes. God is not so concerned about you messing up (your actions), but He is concerned about the integrity of your heart. Don’t let someone else’s failure or sin change your principles! Pray for them. Galatians 6:1 says that those who are spiritual are to restore those who have fallen.
3) Allow God to change you. When the Bible speaks of being tested or tried by fire, it often refers to gold. That is how it is refined and purified. Here’s the thing about gold: the purer it is, the softer it is. That’s why people don’t have jewelry of pure gold. It’s too soft. It would bend if you pushed on it!
We need to be like pure gold. We need a heart of gold that is soft and pliable. When God touches us, we will instantly mold and shape to Him. So what are we waiting for? Let’s desire integrity and let Him search us.
Faith Nugget
A Heart of Gold
“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.”
—Psalm 139:23–24 (NLT)
Author
Denise Hagin Burns
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