MEDITATIONS FROM THE PSALMS

 

January 16 , 2008  

Reading:  Psalm 40:11-17

 

"My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up” Ps 40:12

 

Both the scriptures and our experience confirm that the life of a Believer is inundated with attacks from our ever persistent enemy, Satan. He will do everything in his power, which is no small thing, to disrupt our walk with Christ and destroy our joy in knowing and loving Him. Any one who says they have total victory over sin is either a liar or does not understand the definition of sin. The scriptures are filled with exhortations such as “fight the good fight,’ “run the race,” “be diligent,” “be strong in the power of His might,” etc. The seventh chapter of Romans is not a passage into chapter eight, it is the experience of every Believer.

I realize that David is primarily speaking of his physical enemies when he wrote,

 

“Innumerable evils have surrounded me; my iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of my head; therefore my heart fails me” Psalm 40:12.

 

These words, however, are readily applied to the Believer’s spiritual experience. Perhaps many are not so embattled but I know there are occasions when the battle seems so fierce that “my heart (almost) fails me.” When sin gets the upper hand and you have yielded to its attack and deceitfulness yet once again, do you not feel embarrassed to approach God? “My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up.” It is then that the Holy Spirit reminds me once again of the words

 

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” 1 John 1:9-10.

 

On these occasions I know what David means when he said,

 

“In You, O LORD, I put my trust; let me never be ashamed; deliver me in Your righteousness. Bow down Your ear to me, deliver me speedily; be my rock of refuge, a fortress of defense to save me. For You are my rock and my fortress; therefore, for Your name's sake, lead me and guide me. Pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, for You are my strength. Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O LORD God of truth” Psalm 31:1-5.

 

What precious words these are. What a wonderful thing it is to know that we have a “Rock of Refuge, a Fortress of Defense,” to Whom we can run. If you belong to God the Holy Spirit will always remind you of this treasure.

 

“When my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I” Psalm 61:2.

 

No matter how many times the cry of the prodigal is on your lips, “Father, I have sinned,” God has promised to forgive and to cleanse you. With His arms around you He will remind you that “there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” Romans 8:1. Walking in the Spirit does not means to never sin, it means that when you sin you will fly to Christ, confess your sin, and know without a shadow of doubt His forgiveness. This is what it means to “know Him and the power of His resurrection.”

Things only get worse when you buy into the devil’s lie that God is getting tired of your sinning and is running out of patience with you. Never will that happen. It is an outright lie of Satan. God’s arms are always open to His repentant child. Problems exist when His child continues in sin without repentance. God only chastises His unrepentant child. Remember, “If we confess, He is faithful to forgive,” every time without fail.

 

“If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared” Ps 130:3-4.