We dig in the earth for minerals or holes for water. We dig in books for information. We dig in the back of the closet for forgotten items like coats or blankets. We’re weren’t created as natural diggers, but after the Fall we learned this important skill.

Some using their Digging skills for evil. “A wicked scoundrel digs up evil, and his slander is like a scorching fire.” Proverbs 16.27. We all probably know one of these types.

Digging can be an act of salvation. Jesus told the parable of a worker who offered to the owner of a tree that wasn’t producing fruit, “Sir, leave it alone this year too, until I dig around it and put fertilizer on it”.” Luke 13.8. In the context, it’s a sign of divine patience.

An essential skill for salvation of our own souls is learning to dig into our hearts to discover the motivations and attitudes that deny the grace of God. Yes, the Lord is the ultimate examiner of hearts, Jeremiah 17.10; 1 Thessalonians 2.4. And, yes, we can never know ourselves fully and accurately, “The Heart is devious above all else; it is perverse — who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17.9 NRSV.

Still, our wills can decide to deliver the deceitful heart to the Lord. And he puts us to the task of purifying it from evil, Jeremiah 4.14. We must dig into the depths of heart and soul to expose our own evil thoughts, desires, and resistance to the will of God:

Put yourselves to the test to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize regarding yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you — unless, indeed, you fail the test! 2 Corinthians 13.5.

Prayer opens up our hearts to the Lord. To him we expose all. He, of course, already knows all. But we submit to his examination so that we might be purified and cleansed by his work. These words could well be that prayer:

Examine me, O Lord, and test me. Evaluate my inner thoughts and motives. Psalm 26.2.

This digging into the heart takes with it the Word of God, which is the determiner of right and wrong. It is the light that tells us what we are seeing down deep. We do it now in order to avoid having that Word force its way into our inner being later, for judgment, represented by a double-edged sword:

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart. And no creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account. Hebrews 4.12-13.

Some people are constant gazers of their own belly button. They put themselves at the center of the universe. They are at the head of Paul’s list of sins in 2 Timothy 3.2: “self-absorbed” (MSG), “selfish,” or “lovers of themselves.”

The spiritual diggers, however, are determined to discover their failings and replace them with the fruit of the Spirit. Digging is but one step in the process, a dirty job, as are all shovel-ready jobs. But they are up to the task because they hold divine tools and keep a constant connection with the divine source of power.

Are you digging?