Your Sin: Your Enemies’ Opportunity

^{NIV Ps. 38.4} 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.

⁹ All my longings lie open before you, Lord;
    my sighing is not hidden from you.
¹⁰ My heart pounds, my strength fails me;
    even the light has gone from my eyes.
¹¹ My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds;
    my neighbors stay far away.
¹² Those who want to kill me set their traps,
    those who would harm me talk of my ruin;
    all day long they scheme and lie.

¹³ I am like the deaf, who cannot hear,
    like the mute, who cannot speak;
¹⁴ I have become like one who does not hear,
    whose mouth can offer no reply.
¹⁵ Lord, I wait for you;
    you will answer, Lord my God.
¹⁶ For I said, “Do not let them gloat
    or exalt themselves over me when my feet slip.”

¹⁷ For I am about to fall,
    and my pain is ever with me.
¹⁸ I confess my iniquity;
    I am troubled by my sin…

Today for the sixth time, we return to Mike Leake at the website Borrowed Light. Click the title below to read this at source.

What to Do When Your Sin Makes Your Enemies Pounce

“It is a marvel that any man escapes ruin, the dangers which beset even the best being many and terrible.” –W.S. Plumer

Have you noticed 90% of news stories necessitate a person being ruined? Occasionally the ruin is not a result of a bone-headed decision or immoral choice. But more often than not, it is because sin has caught up with someone. And if you and I are being honest we’d have to admit that our absence from the front page isn’t for lack of opportunity but rather because of grace.

Psalm 38 is a painful Psalm. David is the guy on the front page whose life is ruined because of a personal transgression. And his whole world is coming apart. His relationship with God feels strained, his friends are keeping him at a distance, and his enemies are using this as an opportunity to pounce. The worst part is that David isn’t an innocent victim, he’s a guilty sinner. His conscience is not on his side.

Thankfully, I have not had an experience which totally fits King David’s scenario. I have said and done things which are dumb and/or sinful. I have had to endure consequences of my mistakes, but I do not believe I have experienced fully what David is going through in Psalm 38, at least not to this depth. And I hope I never do.

Of the many lessons we could learn from Psalm 38, one I’d like to consider is what to do when you’ve legitimately blown it as a leader and now your enemies are using this to pounce on you. This could be applied when you’ve front-page-of-the-paper blown it and when you’ve messed up and you’ve given those who are enemies a bit of fodder for their cannons. I see at least five things to take from this passage on that topic:

1. Don’t try to spin your sin, own it. David’s response in verses 13-14 is the correct posture for being in this position. He doesn’t give excuses. He doesn’t, at least at this stage, try to plead his cause against those who “seek his heart” and “speak of ruin”. He doesn’t attempt to save face or launch a PR campaign. He becomes as one who is mute, even while his enemies are laying snares for him.
2. Repent where necessary. Not all the accusations the enemy threw at David had merit. But some of them did. Where he was actually guilty David pleaded with God for mercy. He confessed his sin (v18). It’s tempting when folks are lying about us to move from the position of sinner to that of victim and ignore our very real guilt and sin. Let the Lord deal with the lies and repent of the truth in their fodder.
3. Acknowledge you are overwhelmed and cannot get yourself out. David’s sin was over his head. His friends weren’t able to help, and his enemies certainly weren’t going to be there for him. Dealing with actual sin is difficult enough, when those who are against you pile on unreasonable accusations, and often with violence, it becomes too much to bear. David became as a “deaf and mute man”. He was so overwhelmed that words escaped him, so he turned to prayer. When you’ve dug a hole you cannot get yourself out of it’s time to cry out for a hand of rescue.
4. Wait upon the Lord to vindicate you. It’s generally a good principle to let the Lord plead your cause. How much more is this the case when your sin has brought reproach upon you? You’ll sound like a real schmuck if you say, “I’m guilty of this, but I’m hurt that you’d accuse me of that”. Pray that God will allow the full truth to come out.
5. Rest in God’s character. In verse 9, David takes great comfort in the fact that God knows every bit of his crying. Though God also knows the depth of his sin, David is comforted by the truth of God’s omniscience. It also helps to know that God is merciful. As one has said, “It is both an affliction and a comfort to a good man to see the hand of God in all his troubles—an affliction, inasmuch as it shows us how vile we must be to need such sore corrections from the loving One:—a comfort, because we may be assured that mercy shall order everything.

I pray that I’m never in the depth of a Psalm 38 situation, but I know I’m not above it. Though our situation might not rise to the magnitude of Psalm 38 we can find help for our lesser trials. Because of the gospel we know that even if our sin puts us on the front page, the greater news story is that Jesus washes us clean.

Spiritual Responsibility

In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. (Acts 17:30 NIV)

This is another verse that teaches what some refer to as spiritual responsibility in the light of privilege. Those of us who live in a time where there are multiple Bibles in every home, where Christian radio and TV proliferate, where millions of pieces of Christian periodicals and devotional literature are printed each month, and now where the internet offers untold access to unlimited Bible study resources and commentary; we have a much greater responsibility.

Sadly, the same printing, broadcast and electronic resources offer us the potential for limitless distraction when it comes to spiritual focus. While I don’t believe we’re meant to live in a bubble — you should enjoy know what’s happening in popular music and by all means take ten seconds to look at the cat pictures your friend emailed you — we are citizens of another country and there should our focus lie.

In context, verse 22 tells us, Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus; this was the TEDTalk of Paul’s day and verse 32 tells us Paul was invited back; …others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” With the completion of God’s work in Christ, followed by the giving of the Holy Spirit to enable his followers to share this message with power; the message is broadcast in that culture with every bit as much significance as our mass media holds today.

The Reformation Study Bible so clearly explains the importance of our key verse today, verse 30:

That is, God took into consideration the limitations of their knowledge about God, but now Paul has revealed the truth about the living God. With all people, they are called upon to repent of their sins.

So what knowledge has always been available? Paul writes,

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 1:20)

This verse is one of several that establish the general revelation of God.

He then says,

^{Romans 2:2} All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. ¹³ For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. ¹⁴ (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. ¹⁵ They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.)

Jesus teaches in Luke 12:

⁴⁷ “The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. ⁴⁸ But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

Paul is talking about ultimate responsibility in light of the general revelation given to all, Jesus is explaining particular responsibility in light of what has been heard and seen.

The truth is, You and I are the means by which the truth of God can now be seen and heard. Yes, we are to share a verbal and visible witness to our friends, co-workers, neighbors, fellow-students and extended family; but we are also the ‘givers’ who can make possible the printed literature, the Bibles, the radio broadcasts, the television programs, the podcasts, the blogs, the films, etc.  We live in a time where media can do much. (Is this part of what Jesus meant by ‘greater works you will do’?) But it still takes individuals to produce and disseminate that media.

What role are you playing in all this? What role would God want you to have?

---

This devotional was prepared exclusively using BibleGateway.com.  You can do this, too. Try your hand at writing a devotional based on a scripture God has placed on your heart. Submit it; we’ll critique it, edit it and send it back to your final approval and then possibly print it here.