A professor once introduced a practice called the God Hunt. The idea was simple: at the end of the day, review it like a movie running through your mind, from morning to evening, recalling conversations and interactions, and ask three questions. Where did I notice God's presence? Where did I miss it? And where could I have responded to Him more faithfully? Importantly, he explained, this was never meant to be a condemning practice. The God Hunt was not designed to expose your failures and leave you there. It was...
A professor once introduced a practice called the God Hunt. The idea was simple: at the end of the day, review it like a movie running through your mind, from morning to evening, recalling conversations and interactions, and ask three questions. Where did I notice God's presence? Where did I miss it? And where could I have responded to Him more faithfully?
Importantly, he explained, this was never meant to be a condemning practice. The God Hunt was not designed to expose your failures and leave you there. It was a discipline of intimate prayer, meant to lead you deeper into God's loving presence, and to open you to His delight, His love, and His forgiveness.
David understood this long before anyone gave it a name. His prayer in Psalm 139 is simply this: search me, God. Know my heart. Lead me in the way everlasting. There is no defensiveness in it, no negotiating about which parts are available for inspection. Just an open and trusting invitation for God to look at everything and lead him forward.
Asking God to search us does not have to be frightening. We are not opening ourselves to condemnation or reprisal. We are opening ourselves to love. Yes, sometimes that love is corrective. Sometimes it gently surfaces what needs to change. But even then, it is an act of tender compassion from a God who is steadfast in mercy and quick to forgive.
We cannot manufacture everlasting life. We cannot earn it or cause it to happen through our own effort. It is a gift, given in grace, and we need God's guidance as we learn to live inside that gift more fully each day.
So tonight, before you sleep, try your own version of a God Hunt. Hand your day to Him, the good parts and the missed moments alike. Let Him search it with kindness. And trust that the same God who sees everything is the One who leads you, in mercy, toward life everlasting.
Ponder Tonight
The Prayer of Examen, practiced by believers across centuries, is built on the conviction that God is active in the ordinary details of every day, and that we can train ourselves to notice Him more clearly over time.
Asking God to search us is an act of trust, not exposure. The same God who sees everything we would rather hide is the One Scripture describes as steadfast in love and abounding in mercy.
There is a difference between the conviction that leads to repentance and the condemnation that simply leaves us feeling defeated. God's searching always leads somewhere good, toward formation, toward freedom, toward life.
Ending the day by handing it to God, rather than carrying it into sleep, is a small but significant act of surrender that over time shapes the way we begin the next morning.
Tonight's Scripture
"Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." — Psalm 139:23-24, NIV
Your Evening Prayer
Gracious Lord,
Your presence is with us always. You go before us and behind us and surround us on every side. And yet there are moments when we miss You entirely, too caught up in the activity of the world or the noise of our own thoughts to notice Your gentle voice or Your guiding presence.
Search our day tonight, O Lord. Bring to mind the moments we missed, not as an act of judgment, but as an act of formation. We desire to live our lives in faithful love, and we cannot do that without Your help.
We hand this day to You now, the good and the missed opportunities alike, and we trust in Your mercy, forgiveness, and love. When we rise tomorrow, give us eyes to see where You are moving and hearts open enough to respond.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
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