Read also Hebrews 12:1-2 — we are to lay aside every sin and every weight that so easily besets us. Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, because we want to go all the way to the finish line.

Some of us have these besetting sins that we need to ask the Lord to help us to separate ourselves from whenever they beset us, because they will hold us back.

There are things in our lives that we need to eliminate, because they will prevent us from running this race. Too much baggage, weights, sins, too much on our plates — whatever is hindering us, we need to eliminate.

God is calling us to kill our comfort before it kills us. Can anybody say, ouch, this morning? And can you think of times when you’re comfortable when you need to get up and get moving, times you should be praying, times you should be reading your Bible?

You’re sitting down in front of that box, or you’ve got a little one in your hand. There are some areas where we stay, and we may be comfortable, and if we stay there long enough, we become comfortable, and after a while, we don’t even feel a nudge. It is a state of ease and satisfaction, freedom from pain and anxiety.

We tend to let our guard down. Have you ever gotten so comfortable with a person that you let your guard down, and it lulls you to sleep? But oftentimes comfort can also be disastrous, and it can have disastrous results.

Sometimes you find yourselves — whether young or old — in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Sometimes it takes a shaking to separate us from what is unnecessary. In the process of sifting, there’s some kind of discomfort going on — some kind of discomfort.

So sometimes it takes a shaking up to separate us from what’s unnecessary. And like I said before, the process may be uncomfortable.

According to Scripture, God knows us. Psalm 139 opens with, “O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting and my uprising; thou understandest my thoughts afar off.”

David says, “There is not a word on my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.” Such knowledge is too wonderful.

Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. He knows the real deal. There is no need to wear a mask, because God sees behind the mask.

There is no secret place with God. He knows us fully, yet He does not cast us aside. He pursues us to bring us close, to forgive us, and to draw us to Himself.

Verses 7 through 12 remind us that we cannot hide from God — not our sin, not our darkness, not our feelings. We live continually in the light of His presence.

God saw Adam hiding. God questioned Cain. God saw Moses. God pursued Jonah. Over and over again, Scripture reminds us that God sees, God knows, and God calls us back.

God is merciful. Even when we run, He prepares a way back.

Verses 13 through 16 show us that God knew us before we were formed. He knew the measure of our days before we were born.

When He places us on the potter’s wheel, He is shaping us. It may not feel good, but we cannot resist the Lord and grow. We must submit to His forming hand.

Verses 19 through 22 remind us that God is the ultimate Judge. “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I hide from Your presence?”

David returns again to his prayer: “Search me, O God.” This is a daily prayer. When God searches us, we must accept the verdict.

Whatever God needs to sift — S-I-F-T — out of our lives, we must allow Him to do it.

God shifts His people by sifting them. When He highlights sin, we must make adjustments.

Jesus said, “If anyone will come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24).

God’s goal is true transformation. As we present our bodies as living sacrifices, we are transformed by the renewing of our minds.

We will be sifted. Let us walk in a way that fulfills God’s desires, not our own, so that we remain steadfast in the Lord.