David and the Psalms

My church, Cornerstone Church of Knoxville, recently started a series on the Psalms. We just started last week, but it has already had a huge impact. Psalm 73 has really ministered to me as of late, and the Holy Spirit has used this series, recent sin and repentance, and my care group to bring some simple but important spiritual truths home for me.

1. I am sinful. Wicked, desperately evil, depraved. Get married. Love your wife desperately. Try not to sin against her. Try your hardest. Try to serve her. Still you will sin. If you are unconvinced of your sins, you are either deceiving yourself, as I was for a long time, or the stakes simply aren't high enough. Try not to sin. Fight against it. Engage in the battle. You will lose sometimes, I pray not, but Paul finds the law to be in his members, that what he does not want to do, that is what he does. We are like him; we fall to sin. A thoughtful consideration of what we are called to as Christians in light of our holy God and a thorough look into the depths of our heart will show this.

2. I need to have people with whom I am transparent. If I am sinful and if I want to be holy like my God, I need people to know me. Not merely to know of me, but to really know me. The beauty of the people of God is that it is here where you can be fully known yet fully loved. We are all tempted to think that if only people really knew me, they would love me. However, after a consideration of our own sinfulness, we can dispel this falsity. We need people to see our hearts and our sin and to know where our struggles are and how we are tempted. This of course needs to be done with someone mature and trustworthy (especially trustworthy), but it must be done if we are to grow as God would desire.

In the Psalms, David shows us these two truths very clearly. It is here,specifically Psalm 51, where David's sinfulness is clearly shown and exposed. Think of your greatest sin against others and against God. Feel the weight of your shame. David is exposed by Nathan in his court. Feel the stares. Feel the embarrassment. What is left to David but to repent? It is here that he can be cared for by others and encouraged and aided. How terrible and lovely a place. Here, in the place which we desperately flee, the place where our souls are laid bare to others and our sin and shame are before us, there is freedom. Here we can be ourselves. We can tell full stories and quit our half-lies and half-truths and tell wholes.

Christian, seek out biblical fellowship, where you can be encouraged and held accountable and challenged. You need this.

In the following blogs, I will take this apart in pieces and look at each further.