The Lord examines our motives

Proverbs 16:2 (NLT)

2 People may be pure in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their motives.

When it comes to examining our own actions we are often partial to ourselves. We go to lengths to prove we are right and others are wrong. The judgment of The Lord concerning us is according to truth.

Rebecca Pippert relates a story about a famous physicist who confided in her and said:

I'm a scientist, you know, a rational person. I've never seen much need for God. All my life I've felt in charge and in control. I've been extremely successful and made it to the top. If there's a problem at work, I call a meeting or write a note to my secretary, and it is quickly resolved.

Yet nothing is simple or easily resolved at home. My children don't relate to me easily …. They accuse me of trying to control their lives. When I walk into the same room as my son, he starts to stammer. What hurts is that they can't seem to appreciate how much I care and that I'm doing all of this for them.

But I'll tell you one lesson I've learned. I always said that since I had my children's best interests at heart, they'd be glad for my direction …. My children have taught me the hardest lesson of my life—that I'm not in control over what matters to me most. It's funny, but it's now when I see I'm not God that I see I need some help. The question of whether there is a God has finally started to matter. [Rebecca Pippert, Hope Has Its Reasons (InterVarsity Press, 2001), pp. 52-53]

There is an age old problem; we all want to be God. Satan wanted to be God and fell from God’s grace. When man entered into sin it was because he was told he could be like God knowing good from evil. Yet we are not God and we don’t see the things the way God does. God’s motives are pure and just, while man’s motives are often selfish and prideful. People may be pure in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their motives; and yet The Lord is willing to guide us on the right path if we will just listen.