He Searches the Heart

He Searches the Heart

Wayne E. Brickey

God seemed to spend a lot of time fussing and hovering over Job, training and trying him.

Why was Job so interesting to the Lord?

What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him?  And that thou shouldest set

thine heart upon him?  And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and

try him every moment?

Job 7:17-18

Job's suffering was part of some big project.  He had vast potential not apparent to himself.

The Lord was more devoted to Job's future than Job was.

The only conflict between Job and his Creator was Job's reluctance to be made

into something more than he already was. The Creator had great plans for Job,

and he has great plans for us.

Each life's story is a serious one because our Creator has distinctly spiritual plans for us.

The plot, unclear to us, makes perfect sense to him because he refuses to see our lives narrowly.

All things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a

Law which was temporal…For my commandments are spiritual.

The spiritual is the permanent rather than the temporary.  It is the entire, infinite picture,

rather than the sliver we now see.  The spiritual touches intangible processes and eternal

outcomes that cause us to resemble God.  The spiritual deals not just with spirit matter

but also with all matters that are spiritual in their powers and possibilities. 

Mortal life touches this realm all day long.

I the Lord search the heart.

Jeremiah 17:10

God always sees this realm, mindful of how the temporal affects the permanent.

He sees where things are headed.  He scans the heart for spots that need cleaning,

mending, building.  Of course, these spots do not show up unless we are under some stress.

The Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee,

and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart.

Deuteronomy 8:2

Even the most physical suffering is not strictly physical after all.  It does not end in the

physical realm where it began.  It soaks into the heart and spreads.  Suffering is finely connected to

the versatile and permanent self, the spirit.  Suffering is a spiritual matter.

God's view is so different from ours that his will often surprises us.

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways,

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55:9

His galaxy sized intentions are guaranteed to conflict with our little plans now and then.

If we will simply let his wisdom override ours, our uninspired goals will not restrict the story of

our lives, and we will become his greatest miracles.

You will have all kinds of trials to pass through.  And it is quite as necessary for you to be

tried as it was for Abraham and other men of God and… God will feel after you.

Joseph Smith

He feels after us.  He searches our hearts with His.