Ps 26:2 says, Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.  We understand why the Lord should try our hearts.  But why would I want the Lord to try my reins?

Try My Reins

The reins are the kidneys; the region of the kidneys, the loins, or the seat of the feelings or passions.

You might have said, “I had a gut feeling about something”.  Or “when they asked me to speak, I had butterflies in my stomach”.  Some have said of fear, “I felt it in the pit of my stomach”.

Your adrenal glands are located on top of your kidneys.  Adrenaline rush is the name for the quick release of adrenaline into your blood stream that gets you ready for fight or flight.  You can feel it rush into your blood.  You feel it in your reins.  And most of the time, you’re going to react to it.

Don’t Trust The Feelings In Your Reins

There’s a danger in reacting to something based on how it makes you feel in your reins.  You’ll often make a mistake in judgment if you react to your feelings.  Fear, anger, or a passion mimicking love can cause you to make a wrong decision.

This is what happened to the disciples when they woke Jesus up in the middle of a storm and said, “Lord, save us, we perish”, Matt 8:25.  They were fearful, but they weren’t going to perish.

Gird Your Reins (Loins) With Truth

This is why our loins must be girt about with truth, Eph 6:14.  When your loins are girt about with truth, you are protecting yourself from reacting to something based on how you feel rather than on the truth of God’s words.

For example, when Christians feel like they’re not saved, they may be inclined to believe it.  However, the Bible clearly states that we cannot be lost once we are saved.  Thus, the truth protects us from the feeling of losing our salvation after we are saved.

At times, people become depressed and discouraged when they encounter difficulty in following God’s will.  They may even be inclined to give up on the direction God is leading them.  Yet, when they let God try their reins to sort out their feelings and acknowledge the truth, they can work through the feelings and continue following God.

Some young Christians may feel deeply like they are “gay”.  These feelings can be strong and very real.  But they aren’t true.  A young person struggling with these feelings would have to ask God, “Try my reins”, to sort these feelings out with the truth.

Sometimes, people might say something that causes us to react in fear or anger.  When this happens, we must examine what they said with the truth.  We must consider their true motive for saying what they said and their true relationship with us.  And we must let God try our reins to sort out our feelings with the truth.  In this way, you gird your loins with truth and keep yourself from reacting in error.

Consider This Illustration From A Steam Engine Train

Often, in dealing with people who have been misled by their feelings, I describe three cars of a steam engine train to illustrate what we have been discussing in this sermon.  The engine pulls the train when coal is added to the fire to build up the steam.  The caboose is along for the ride.

The engine is FACT, the coal car is FAITH, and the caboose is FEELING. The fact is that Jesus died and rose again to pay for our sins and save us.  When we put our faith in that fact, we are saved.  Salvation gets going in our lives, so to speak.  And when a person gets saved, they often feel something, like the lifting of the burden of sin.  However, this salvation train can run without the caboose.  You don’t have to feel saved to be saved.

Pray, Lord, Try My Reins

So, don’t trust your feelings to determine whether something is true or not.  Instead, let God try your reins and gird your loins with the truth.  Pray and ask the Lord, “Lord, try my reins”.  This will protect you from the mistake of trusting and following your feelings into error.