My Sin Held Him There

This week the She Shares Truth Friday devotional is on Psalm 38.  (See last week's here.)

I've often thought, when reading Psalms, that one moment it's "woe is me," & the next moment David feels like dancing before the Lord.  They can seem so back & forth.  But I think that's one thing I like about the book...it's real.  We have phases like that where you have a horrible day one day & the next you feel like you're on top of the world.

Is Psalm 38, David writes out of his despair.  In verse 3 he says, "because of Your anger, my whole body is sick; my health is broken because of my sins."  Reading through these verses I kept asking myself one question:  am I offended by sin?  We're usually pretty easily offended by the sins of others, but what about our sin?  My sin?

As Christians, I think we tend to focus either on sin or on salvation, but not always both.  I tend to not be as concerned with my sin as I am the mercy, love, grace, & goodness of Jesus.  But the reality is, if it weren't for our sins, we wouldn't need Him.  If we were perfect, there would have been no reason for Jesus leave Heaven, walk this earth, & take on the weight of our sins.  So as important as it is to understand His grace, it's also vital that we recognize our own sin.

Even though we know we're sinners, do we really grasp the ugliness of sin?  We know well the effects of sin; we understand guilt & conviction.  But, whether it's murder, or just not talking to your neighbor & showing God's love when you should have, all sin is a separation from God & that's what makes it such a big deal. 

There's a song that my mom sang in church when I was a child.  Does He still feel the nails every time I fail?  Does He hear the crowd cry, "crucify" again?  It was my sin that put Jesus on the cross.  It was my sin that held Him there until He cried, "it is finished."  It's a lot easier to admit that Jesus died for me than it is to admit that my sin is why He did it.

To truly understand what we are saved to, we have to grasp what we are saved from.  Understanding the ugliness of our own sin is always followed by a but.  Sin, sin, & more sin...but then there's grace, mercy, forgiveness, & salvation.  That "but" is the heart of the Gospel.  It's the moment that we recognize our need, & Jesus gloriously steps in.  We see an example of this in verse 15; after David has gone on about his sin, & even the physical effects that it is having on him, he says "I put my hope in You, Lord; You will answer, Lord my God."  We have every reason to place our confident hope in Jesus.  He has already paid the price to purchase us.  He's right there waiting.