Sunday, August 30, 2015

How to deal with our sin.... #1

Before we were saved we were identified with the wicked. Here the Psalmist is talking about the what could happen when he is close to death.28 3" Do not drag me away with the wicked, with those who do evil, who speak cordially with their neighbors but harbor malice in their hearts."He describes these feelings when he is wounded in war. He was always susceptible to suffer death because of his occupation. In the Psalms he is always complaining about his wounds. So here he distinguishes himself from the wicked by saying they are gonna be dragged away to punishment at the time of death. You will see that there is always a personality that is consistent with how the wicked express themselves. The wicked have an evil heart, which they show by their speech. 5" Since they show no regard for the works of the LORD" and "harbor malice in their hearts" 

But the believer is gonna tell God what he is going through both physically and spiritually.6 1" O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.2 Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony.3 My soul is in anguish. How long, O LORD, how long?"38 1 O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.2 For your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down upon me.3 Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; my bones have no soundness because of my sin.4 My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.5 My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly.6 I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning.7 My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body.8 I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart."This humble expression of the Psalmist is from a covenant understanding that God is obligated to first be concerned for our well being. This is more than a theological confession of sin. In describing his pain and expressing how he feels , he is distinguishing God from man in that God loves us with the foresight that He must provide the ability before we experience the success. If the focus was just on the confession then the ability would be transferred in the confession. But this is not how God deals with His children. 

God has created us according to His perfect word. We could say that we are a display of Gods creative description of His own love for Himself. But because of sin we have been made subject to the frustration from experiencing our perfect individual description according to Gods perfect word. He expresses this in 28 9" All my longings lie open before you, O Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you." The Holy Spirit has given us these genuine expression of dependence in the context that as they flow from our hearts we begin to be consumed in Gods love in the importance that God shows in receiving us as we express our most simple weakness. Like a child describing to his father the fear he experiences when he is in the dark.

God deals with us according to our weakness103 . 13" As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. " This is a metaphor that God gives the ability in order for us to be able. I do not believe that these expressions of dependence are always raw and emotional. But as we use them we may begin to take Gods love for granted. Because we experience Gods attitude that freedom promotes growth. But even if we were overly concerned for ourselves in the expression of dependence, Gods foresight is according to His eternal love and not our limited understanding of freedom. This is why it is so hard for us because we are always presuming what God is thinking according to our own limited understanding.










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