Proverbs 20:5

The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.

Sometimes what we see on the surface is not representative of the “true” situation – the real motive or driving force.

It takes wisdom and insight from God to “see through” to the root. Once you see the root, then you can address the situation more appropriately.

Addressing the root still takes wisdom from God. He can answer all of the questions surrounding your response, i.e., who, what, when, where, how, and why. It all goes back to Him.

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I was talking to my son the other day about this scripture and he brought to mind a different application. I was originally thinking of us “seeing through” to the root within other people. But…

Suppose the “deep water” is within ourselves, not others. Suppose we are the one’s who put up “props” to hide our true feelings and motives from others. Sometimes we will say and do one thing, but the true motivation for our actions lies elsewhere. We think we can fool others, and many times we can.

But what if the “man of understanding” is God? What can we hide from Him? Psalm 94:11 teaches us that God knows our thoughts. He made us so what is there to learn?

So we might as well “come clean” before the Lord and let Him reveal to us His will for our lives at that given moment.