Search Me, O God: Learning to Ask Gospel Questions
“Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”—Psalm 139:23–24 (ESV)
Sometimes life feels like we’re merely reacting instead of intentionally living. Yesterday, I felt emotionally unsettled and couldn’t put my finger on why. What do I do with that? How do I begin to discern what’s going on in my heart before the Lord?
The pace of 21st-century life doesn’t make this easy. Slowing down to ask God for help in sorting through our inner world feels almost impossible, so we often plow forward. Yet this kind of personal soul work is what moves us from merely surviving to understanding what makes us tick. It’s not navel-gazing or self-obsession, but an opportunity for growth under God’s loving care.
Inviting God to Search Our Hearts
David’s prayer in Ps. 139:23-24 models how we can open the deepest part of ourselves to God’s refining work. This is more than self-analysis. David invites God to not just observe his behavior but to examine his heart, the inner wellspring from which our desires, fears, motives, and worship flow (Prov. 4:23; Luke 6:45). In this humble prayer of trust, David asks God who sees and knows all about him to reveal what he cannot see.
Besides that, Psalm 139 also points forward. David asks God to reveal his “grievous ways” but prays to be led in the “way everlasting” as well—a metaphor for the path of life that finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ, “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6). Asking God to search our hearts is not merely for insight. It is a step toward transformation so that we might walk in His paths of righteousness.
What’s Really Going On Inside?
Self-examination in relationship with God is crucial. Without Him, we easily slip into either self-condemnation (“I’m hopeless”) or self-justification (“I’m fine as I am”). Gospel self-examination is different. It invites God to search our hearts, trusting His goal is not to crush us but to heal, guide, and transform us.
One helpful tool for this is David Powlison’s “X-Ray Questions,” originally published in the Journal of Biblical Counseling. These questions help us uncover the heart beneath our emotions. Here’s a condensed version to get you started:
1. What do I love, desire, and worship?
What do I long for most in life?
Where do I place my ultimate hope and trust?
What or whom do I depend on for satisfaction, security, or significance?
2. What do I fear or try to control?
What am I afraid of losing or missing out on?
Where do I seek refuge or comfort instead of trusting God?
How do my fears shape my decisions, priorities, and relationships?
3. What drives my thinking and actions?
What motivates my daily decisions and long-term plans?
What beliefs or assumptions guide my choices?
What occupies my thoughts, words, and time?
4. Whose approval or standards guide my life?
Whose judgment or approval matters most to me?
How do I measure success or failure—by God’s standards or someone else’s?
5. How do I respond to God’s presence and work?
How do I bring my heart to God in prayer and trust?
Where am I resisting His leading or clinging to my own desires?
In what ways am I living for myself instead of walking in obedience?
Even a few of these questions can help surface what lies beneath our reactions so we can bring them before the Lord.
Reframing Our Hearts Through the Gospel
Unearthing our hearts can feel vulnerable—like exposing something we’d rather keep hidden. But insight is not the end goal. It is the first step toward seeing ourselves through the gospel lens of Christ and His work.
When we feel anxious, lonely, or frustrated, we often assume our deepest need is for life to go our way. But the gospel reframes our perspective: our greatest need—reconciliation with God—has already been met through Christ’s perfect life, atoning death, and victorious resurrection. Because of Him, we are forgiven, adopted, and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who empowers us to live by faith.
This means that what we most deeply long for—to be known, loved, forgiven, and secure—has already been given to us. Even when life feels chaotic or lacking, we are not empty because we have Christ. And we are never alone.
This perspective changes how we view our struggles. We are not left to fend for ourselves, because God has adopted us as His children. Whatever He ordains for today, He also supplies the grace to endure. Our hardships are not random; they are instruments He uses to refine our faith and draw us nearer to Him. Instead of spiraling into fear or self-reliance, we can rest in His wise and good providence.
The gospel also steadies us when we feel like failures. Our standing before God does not rise and fall with our performance—it is anchored in Christ’s finished work. This frees us to confess sin honestly, without fear of condemnation, knowing we are fully forgiven. Even when our emotions swing or our faith falters, God remains faithful and continues His work in us (Phil. 1:6).
Turning Insight Into Action
So what do we do with this insight? Insight alone is never the point. God calls us to respond in faith to what He reveals so that we may walk in His ways.
Because I like to practice what I preach, I prayed Psalm 139 during my morning walk to process my own “jittery” feelings. As I did, the Lord helped me see that my anxiety about the day was rooted in a desire to be in control and to accomplish everything on my list. I felt nervous because I feared I could not do it. I was trying to be like God—carrying a burden He had never asked me to carry—and I feared wasting the day if I didn’t get it all done.
This realization didn’t erase the busyness of my day, but it shifted my heart from anxious striving to trusting obedience. Remembering the gospel freed me to lay aside the impossible burden of self-sufficiency, trust God’s presence, and take the next step in faith. I could choose faith rather than fear, knowing God was more committed to my growth and fruitfulness than I was.
This is why the gospel is not only the doorway into the Christian life but the path we walk every day. Every insight we gain through heart examination is an invitation to repent, trust, and take fresh steps of obedience—walking in the way everlasting.
For me, realizing that my fears were rooted in self-reliance meant confessing that I was trying to control my life as if I were God. Scripture came to mind: Jesus tells me that He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). As my good Shepherd, I can trust Him to lead me in paths of righteousness (Ps. 23:3). I can trust Him with today rather than worrying about tomorrow (Matt. 6:34), and lean not on my own understanding but on Him who makes my paths straight (Prov. 3:5–6).
As I prayed and asked Him to help me seek first His kingdom (Matt. 6:33), clarity came about what I truly needed to focus on—and it wasn’t what I had originally thought. As I prayed about this very ordinary situation that had made me anxious (Phil. 4:6), my spirit calmed. His peace guarded my heart and mind (Phil. 4:7) as I remembered that even if I didn’t finish everything, He would complete the good work He began in me (Phil. 1:6).
God’s Word didn’t give me a minute-by-minute schedule, but it did give me a new lens. I still had to make plans, but I could do so with a heart at rest—knowing I didn’t have to accomplish them to earn His favor. I could do all things for His glory, one at a time, knowing He was pleased with my faith more than my productivity.
When God gives us insight into our hearts, His goal is not just awareness but transformation. As He graciously exposes misplaced trust—whether in control, performance, or self-reliance—we respond with confession and faith (1 John 1:9), depending on His Spirit to help us turn. Instead of leaning on our own understanding, we submit to God’s Word and ask Him to renew our minds by His truth (Rom. 12:2).
This reorients our thinking, reminding us of who God is and who we are in Christ. From this place of trust, we take the next step in faith, walking with Him rather than plowing ahead on our own.
An Invitation for You
I hope this process of taking thoughts captive (2 Cor. 10:5) encourages you in whatever you face this week. Ask God to help you identify not only what you are feeling but the desires and fears underneath. Bring them into the light of the gospel, where they can be forgiven, reshaped, and renewed. As He reveals these things, respond to Him in faith and take one small step of obedience.
May the God who searches and knows your heart lead you not into despair but into the joy of being fully known, fully loved, and gently led in the way everlasting.