Monday, February 25, 2019
O Lord, don’t rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your rage! Your arrows have struck deep, and your blows are crushing me. Because of your anger, my whole body is sick; my health is broken because of my sins. My guilt overwhelms me—it is a burden too heavy to bear. My wounds fester and stink because of my foolish sins. I am bent over and racked with pain. All day long I walk around filled with grief. A raging fever burns within me, and my health is broken. I am exhausted and completely crushed. My groans come from an anguished heart. You know what I long for, Lord; you hear my every sigh. My heart beats wildly, my strength fails, and I am going blind. My loved ones and friends stay away, fearing my disease. Even my own family stands at a distance. Meanwhile, my enemies lay traps to kill me. Those who wish me harm make plans to ruin me. All day long they plan their treachery. But I am deaf to all their threats. I am silent before them as one who cannot speak. I choose to hear nothing, and I make no reply. For I am waiting for you, O Lord. You must answer for me, O Lord my God. I prayed, “Don’t let my enemies gloat over me or rejoice at my downfall.” I am on the verge of collapse, facing constant pain. But I confess my sins; I am deeply sorry for what I have done. I have many aggressive enemies; they hate me without reason. They repay me evil for good and oppose me for pursuing good. Do not abandon me, O Lord. Do not stand at a distance, my God. Come quickly to help me, O Lord my savior. Psalm 38:1-22(NLT)
Waiting is always hard; just ask a
4-year-old who is trying to go to sleep on Christmas Eve. But waiting when you’re in pain and have no
answers is the hardest assignment known to humankind. And what makes it harder is when the heavens
seem silent and indifferent to your pain.
King David understood his life was
on the verge of collapse, physically, mentally, and, worst of all,
spiritually. Relationships, respect, and
his very life were at an all-consuming low.
He’d offended God, and everyone imaginable, and he was paying for his
sins in overwhelming, consummate grief; David existed just a breath away from
all kinds of death, with an elephant sitting on his chest, laughing at how the former
conquering darling of Israel, now struggled to get just one more filling of air
into his lungs. The words describing his
anguish roll like an inventory of judgment:
crushed, groaning, heartbroken, convicted, weakness,
dim vision, disinterested, pursued, trapped…and forsaken. He was waiting in pain with no answers. In response to David’s circumstances was that
thundering silence of the absence of hope.
He knew there was no way out.
Amid this Psalmist’s prayer we
hear the cry of desperation: You know what I long for, Lord; David longed for an end to it all. The only question was how long will this take, and how
shall it end? Visions of a whole
bottle of pills danced through David’s imagination; or would it be falling on his
sword, or an enemy’s sneak attack while he slept, or perhaps just start the
chariot in the closed garage and wait for the fumes to do their blessed work.
The prayer came quickly at the
end, but it was attached to a lifetime of having placed himself firmly,
unquestionably in God’s hands. David,
despite his sin and shame that the whole nation knew, was still a man after God’s
own heart[ii]
and he was committed to not speaking another word in this life if God didn’t
answer. His prayer was four words
long: COME CLOSE QUICKLY SAVIOR!
That was it; no defenses, no
excuses, no bargains, no claim of victim status; David knew his
condition was his responsibility; he had no mitigation to offer as
reasonable, and knew he needed the mercy of God; he only asked forgiveness.
And in the end, he got just that…and
more:
Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty! When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Interlude Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone. Psalm 32:1-5(NLT)
For You Today
Need we even say it? Confession IS GOOD for the soul!
Go to VIDEO
[ii]
Acts 13:22
No comments:
Post a Comment