The Sacred Investigation: When God Calls You Deeper Than Comfortable Prayers
- Angela Diaz
- Sep 7
- 4 min read
How an ancient Greek word transformed my understanding of spiritual honesty
The Word That Stopped Me in My Tracks
I was doing a simple word study when I stumbled across Strong's G426: ἀνετάζω (anetazō). The definition seemed almost clinical at first—"to examine closely," "to investigate," "to question judicially." But something about that last phrase made me pause. Question judicially. Like a courtroom examination. Like getting to the absolute truth, no matter how uncomfortable.
I had no idea this ancient Greek word was about to become a mirror for my own spiritual life.
When Prayer Becomes Investigation
The next morning, I found myself journaling in a way I hadn't before. Instead of my usual surface-level prayers, I was writing what felt like a deposition—questioning my own motives, examining my patterns, investigating the places in my heart I usually kept off-limits.
"Dear Heavenly Father, one of the great things about leveling up and reaching new heights because you beat certain challenges is that you can't go back..."
As I wrote, I realized I was doing exactly what ἀνετάζω described. I wasn't just praying; I was conducting a sacred investigation of my own heart. The words poured out:
"Disobedience is a double-edged sword. One side is pushing you forward in that forward direction, if you go back you risk consequences of the sword pricking you back..."
This wasn't comfortable prayer. This was forensic faith—the kind that examines evidence, weighs consequences, and demands truth even when it stings.
The Pattern We All Recognize
As I reflected on this experience, I realized something profound: most of us are comfortable with surface-level spirituality. We pray the safe prayers, read the familiar verses, and stay in the shallow end of self-examination. But God calls us to something deeper.
The Sacred Investigation isn't just about a Greek word or a personal journal entry. It's about the spiritual courage to examine our hearts with the same thoroughness God does.
Augustine captured this beautifully when he wrote, "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you." But here's what Augustine understood that many of us miss: that rest doesn't come from avoiding investigation—it comes from inviting it.
What Sacred Investigation Actually Looks Like
When David prayed, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts" (Psalm 139:23-24), he wasn't asking for a gentle once-over. The Hebrew word for "search" (chaqar) means to penetrate, to examine thoroughly, to investigate deeply. David was essentially saying, "God, conduct a forensic examination of my heart."
That's exactly what happened in my journal that morning. Instead of praying around my struggles, I was praying through them:
Where was I tempted to go backward instead of forward?
What patterns was I avoiding that God wanted me to face?
Was I really committed to the "righteous path," or was I just comfortable with the idea of it?
This is ἀνετάζω in action—the willingness to let God conduct a judicial examination of our hearts, knowing that His investigation isn't meant to condemn but to liberate.
The Beautiful Discomfort of Truth
Here's what I discovered about Sacred Investigation: it's simultaneously the most uncomfortable and most freeing thing you can do spiritually.
Uncomfortable because you have to face the parts of yourself you'd rather ignore. In my journal, I had to acknowledge my tendency to want to "go back" to familiar patterns even when I knew they were unhealthy. I had to examine my own "disobedience" and the "double-edged sword" of my choices.
But freeing because, as Jesus said, "the truth will set you free" (John 8:32). When you stop avoiding the difficult questions and start investigating your heart with honesty, something shifts.
You can't go back to who you were because you've seen who you're becoming.
From Investigation to Transformation
The most powerful line in my journal entry was this: "It's really up to me to decide if I want the righteous path or not, to not go back and open old wounds again."
That's the ultimate fruit of Sacred Investigation—clarity about your choices and their consequences. When you examine your heart thoroughly, you stop living in spiritual fog. You see clearly what leads to life and what leads to destruction.
The progression looks like this:
Surface Living - Going through spiritual motions without investigation
The Call to Examine - God invites us to investigate our hearts honestly
The Sacred Investigation - Courageously asking the hard questions
Divine Breakthrough - Truth that sets us free, even when it's uncomfortable
An Invitation to Go Deeper
If you're reading this and feeling that familiar restlessness Augustine described, maybe it's time for your own Sacred Investigation. Maybe God is inviting you to move beyond comfortable prayers into the kind of honest examination that changes everything.
Here are some questions to get you started (feel free to journal these questions):
What patterns in your life are you avoiding examining?
Where are you tempted to "go back" instead of moving forward?
What would change if you prayed with the honesty of ἀνετάζω—a judicial examination?
What is God asking you to investigate that you've been avoiding?
The God Who Isn't Surprised
The most beautiful thing about Sacred Investigation is this: God isn't surprised by what you find when you examine your heart. He's not waiting to condemn you—He's waiting to free you.
When you have the courage to investigate your heart the way He does, with love and truth together, that's where real transformation happens. You discover that the very thing you were afraid to examine becomes the place where God meets you with grace.
As I closed my journal that morning, I realized something: I couldn't go back to surface-level faith. Once you've experienced the liberation of Sacred Investigation, shallow spirituality feels like a betrayal of your own soul.
The ancient Greeks had a word for the kind of examination that changes everything. Maybe it's time we started using it.
What is God asking you to investigate today? The answer might be the beginning of the breakthrough you've been praying for.
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