inmost place. (Psalm 51: 6)
Those words are addressed by the psalmist David to the Lord Himself.
What is it that God really looks for in our lives? First and foremost,
it is not the external practices of religion--not necessarily
church going or other religious acts. God looks much deeper than
those. He looks right down into the innermost depths of our hearts and
our lives.
Elsewhere, the Bible tells us that God does not see as man sees
because man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the
heart. So David says, "Surely you desire truth in the inner
parts." What does God want? What is truth in the inner parts? I
believe it is absolute sincerity--the opposite of religious
externalism, hypocrisy. Those things do not appeal to God. In fact, He
does not approve of them. He detests them. He looks beneath all that.
He wants to see if we are sincere, open, and transparent in our
relationship with Him. Do we say the same thing with our mouths that
we are thinking in our minds?
If we come to that place, then we can say, like the psalmist,
"You teach me wisdom in the inmost place." There is a
secret place in our innermost being where we can begin to hear the
voice of God and learn from Him and He teaches us wisdom there