I heard a Christian speaker not long ago admonishing his audience to confess their "secret sins" to God before God saw fit to expose them to everyone. God wants to be as gentle with us as He can....but, there comes a time when He has had enough and will, for our good and the good of those around us, let it rip. There seem to be two kinds of sins - ones we know about and ones of which we are unaware. Both need to be revealed and confessed so that we can be joyful, healthy people. After all, it is our "abundant" life that Christ came to offer us.
Sitting in every church pew are people with terrible pain. People with secret lives. Those who don't even understand their own sinfulness and how it affects their families and friends. How does God address this?
The judgments of the Lord are true. They are completely right. They are worth more than gold, even the purest gold. They are sweeter than honey, even the finest honey. By them Your servant is warned. Keeping them brings great reward. People cannot see their own mistakes. Forgive me my secret sins. Keep me from the sins of pride. Don't let them rule over me. Then I can be pure and innocent of the greatest of sins.
LET THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH AND THE MEDITATION OF MY HEART BE ACCEPTABLE TO YOU, MY ROCK AND MY REDEEMER. (vs. 9-14)
By the power of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, which is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, will cut into our lives, warn us of danger and show us our sins. Especially egregious are the sins of pride, for pride makes us do crazy things and is the root of pretty much every kind of sin we can imagine. No wonder sin separates us from God, because we are looking to ourselves to rule our lives...makes it necessary to look away from Him.
The Bible convicts me every time. During one period of repentance in my life, the Lord kept showing me how like various animals I had become.....stupid like a pigeon and easily tricked or like a wild donkey all by itself (Hosea).
Again in the Psalm 32: "I will make you wise and show you where to go. I will guide and watch over you. So don't be like a horse or donkey that doesn't understand. They must be led with bits and reins or they will not come near you."
Again....Psalm 73: When my heart was sad and I was angry, I was senseless and stupid. I acted like an animal toward You.
Now these may seem severe in the execution, but they were accurate in the message...that is, of course, why I remember them so well. Someone had to tell me the truth about myself, about my stupid actions and rebelliousness. God put me in a place where I could hear Him then He let me have it! I and I got it! I agreed with Him....which is the first major step in repentance. I stomped out in my own direction, not heeding His warnings, and found myself knee deep in doo-doo. Feet stuck in miry clay trying to climb up the walls of a deep pit. How did I get there? By being stupid like a pigeon and easily fooled. That's how.
How did I get out? His Word. Cutting into my marrow. Telling me not only that I was less than smart, but also that when our hearts make us feel guilty, we can still have peace with God. God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything. (I John) He knows how I got there. He knew my pain. So, yes, He may be saying something like..."If you had only listened to Me you would not be in this pit, Kay." But while He is speaking, He is crawling into it with me to pull me out and clean me up.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to Him and work a work in me that warns me and cleanses me so that my very great reward, living for eternity in the presence of my Christ, will be mine forever.
Sitting in every church pew are people with terrible pain. People with secret lives. Those who don't even understand their own sinfulness and how it affects their families and friends. How does God address this?
The judgments of the Lord are true. They are completely right. They are worth more than gold, even the purest gold. They are sweeter than honey, even the finest honey. By them Your servant is warned. Keeping them brings great reward. People cannot see their own mistakes. Forgive me my secret sins. Keep me from the sins of pride. Don't let them rule over me. Then I can be pure and innocent of the greatest of sins.
LET THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH AND THE MEDITATION OF MY HEART BE ACCEPTABLE TO YOU, MY ROCK AND MY REDEEMER. (vs. 9-14)
By the power of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, which is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, will cut into our lives, warn us of danger and show us our sins. Especially egregious are the sins of pride, for pride makes us do crazy things and is the root of pretty much every kind of sin we can imagine. No wonder sin separates us from God, because we are looking to ourselves to rule our lives...makes it necessary to look away from Him.
The Bible convicts me every time. During one period of repentance in my life, the Lord kept showing me how like various animals I had become.....stupid like a pigeon and easily tricked or like a wild donkey all by itself (Hosea).
Again in the Psalm 32: "I will make you wise and show you where to go. I will guide and watch over you. So don't be like a horse or donkey that doesn't understand. They must be led with bits and reins or they will not come near you."
Again....Psalm 73: When my heart was sad and I was angry, I was senseless and stupid. I acted like an animal toward You.
Now these may seem severe in the execution, but they were accurate in the message...that is, of course, why I remember them so well. Someone had to tell me the truth about myself, about my stupid actions and rebelliousness. God put me in a place where I could hear Him then He let me have it! I and I got it! I agreed with Him....which is the first major step in repentance. I stomped out in my own direction, not heeding His warnings, and found myself knee deep in doo-doo. Feet stuck in miry clay trying to climb up the walls of a deep pit. How did I get there? By being stupid like a pigeon and easily fooled. That's how.
How did I get out? His Word. Cutting into my marrow. Telling me not only that I was less than smart, but also that when our hearts make us feel guilty, we can still have peace with God. God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything. (I John) He knows how I got there. He knew my pain. So, yes, He may be saying something like..."If you had only listened to Me you would not be in this pit, Kay." But while He is speaking, He is crawling into it with me to pull me out and clean me up.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to Him and work a work in me that warns me and cleanses me so that my very great reward, living for eternity in the presence of my Christ, will be mine forever.
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