Discovering Spiritual Healing (8)
Psalms 38:1-22
Jim Davis
There is a new movie coming out; it may already be out. The title is “Are We There Yet?” The movie is based on the question often asked by children while traveling in a car. I know you have heard the question if you have taken a trip with children. I remember one specific trip with my children. We were coming to Florida for the first time. They were constantly asking, “Are we there yet?” We finally told them to just look for the sign that would say, “Entering Florida.” That was a mistake. We reached the Florida state line, but we had another five hours to drive to reach our destination. We didn’t prepare them for that fact. Their questioning “Are we there yet?” turned into, “I thought we already there!” Five hours of this—well you know what I mean. The trip seemed three times longer than it really was.
Children miss out on all the fun sights as they are consumed with their destination. We might call this Destination Disease. Adults as well as children suffer from it. We want to arrive, but we don’t like the journey. Israel had Destination Disease when they left Egypt. The trip took them forty years longer than it should have taken. They were miserable.
We may be forgiven but often find it difficult to feel forgiven. What makes it difficult to feel forgiven is that we continue to have the same thought patterns after being forgiven. We wrestle with the same distractions we have always fought. We have the same temptations, and the same failings. Failing to experience the change we have always longed for leaves us questioning our redemption. We begin to ask, “Are we there yet?” or “Will we ever arrive?” We dream of coming to a place where there will be no more struggle.
One may come to Christ for forgiveness thinking forgiveness is all one needs. We may think we have arrived at our destination when we obeyed Christ in baptism. We are in the kingdom, the place of safety and that’s all that matters. Belonging to the kingdom of Christ is extremely important, it is certainly the safe haven we need to be in, but it isn’t the end of the road. There is a journey ahead of us, which is designed to lead us through a process of becoming. It is the process of becoming more like Christ. It is an ongoing process; it is not a destination.
Bob Dylan said a musical artist is one who is becoming a musician. He always saw his need to become a better musician rather than having a few hits and fading into oblivion. The goal is found in the reaching, not necessarily in arriving. The journey of becoming is a never ending journey.
What Is the Driving Force?
Christians may lose their sense of direction if they fail to understand being a Christian is a process. It’s about growing. In growth there are always struggles. These struggles may seem to be setbacks. These setbacks may be interpreted as failure. We may feel guilt because we haven’t arrived at what we think we should be. Satan slips in and heaps a load of guilt and depression. We fail to realize the potential in the struggles to make us stronger and healthier Christians.
Failing to understand the nature of salvation may leave us questioning the sufficiency of God’s grace. We come to Christ for forgiveness, but quickly realize we have to wrestle with the same sinful nature we thought we should have forever crucified and buried with Christ in baptism. It may be hard to imagine we can be forgiven while having the same thought patterns.
Guilt may become the driving force of our lives as we experience the struggles we thought would just disappear. The guilt of sin and fear of punishment may bring us to Christ, but we need more than guilt and fear to motivate us to grow spiritually.
Sometimes people use our shortcomings and failures to guilt trip us into a better way of living. It never works. Have you ever tried to change someone by making them feel guilty? A lady couldn’t get her husband to mow the yard. The grass was always about half-knee deep before he would mow it. She did everything she could to try and to change him. Nothing seemed to work. So she thought she would really heap the guilt on him. One day, when he came home from work, his wife was out in the yard cutting the grass with a tiny pair of sewing scissors. Her husband calmly walked into the house. He came out in just a few minutes with a toothbrush. He handed his wife the toothbrush and said, “When you get through cutting the grass, you can sweep the sidewalk.”
When we are loaded with guilt we often look to the world for solutions because we don’t how to use the scriptures to over come our problems? The ancient Scriptures seem too archaic for solutions to our modern day problems. We turn worldly solutions like divorce, abortion, birth control, cohabitation, drugs to discipline children, drugs for adults to cope with our anxiety because all these worldly don’t work.
We need confidence in God’s continuing work in our lives. Our need for deliverance doesn’t simply stop with the gift of salvation by grace through faith.
We are saved eternally, but salvation is an ongoing process. It is a revealing process. God’s gracious gift of cleansing is ongoing as we struggle with the same old thought patterns. We realize continued cleansing as we confess our sins (1 John 1:8-7). We are saved despite our struggle. Our salvation is sure.
John 10:25-30
25 Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one." NIV
Christian living is an ongoing process of seeking to hear Jesus’ voice and follow him as he securely keeps us in his hands. Being saved is about taking refuge in a place of safety. It is like hunkering down in a safe place when a hurricane comes. However, getting in a safe place does not stop the hurricane; it doesn’t make the hurricane dissipate. God saves us because we have made Christ our refuge, but it doesn’t stop Satan’s assault. If anything Satan’s assaults intensify.
Need for Continued Deliverance
It is naïve to think we can live in enemy territory and not be assaulted by the enemy. Why do our old thought patterns seem more ingrained in our hearts and minds than ever before after becoming a Christian? It is because this is where Satan will take refuge in our hearts. These are his strongholds. He is not going to surrender them like a wimp. He is going to fight.
2 Corinthians 10:3-6
3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. NIV
We may not understand salvation is about engaging in spiritual battle. We may be Christians, but we continue live in enemy territory. Becoming a Christian simply means we have declared war on the satanic influences in our lives. What do you think Satan is going to do? Well, he’s going to engage us in battle. We will win some and we will lose some. Winning or losing is not as important as what the struggle is helping us to become.
We must understand our need of God’s divine power for deliverance while we are wrestling with our old thought patterns engrained in our hearts and minds. The important thing is to come to a point where we understand our salvation is totally dependent upon God. Listen to the psalmist.
Psalms 37:39-40
39 The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD;
he is their stronghold in time of trouble.
40 The LORD helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him. NIV
It sounds as though the psalmist is rejoicing over his deliverance. He is experiencing God’s ongoing salvation. Many are not discovering the joy of salvation because they are not engaged in battle. They aren’t experiencing God’s deliverance on an ongoing basis. They think maybe they are saved but have never experienced deliverance. They go to church, but their lives are surrendered to worldly values.
In the verses I am about to read, the psalmist knows he is saved, but he is reliant on God’s mercy to sustain him in his time of failure. He is feeling much like you should feel when you fail to do what you know you ought to do.
Psalms 6:1-7
6:1 For the director of music. With stringed instruments. According to sheminith. A psalm of David.
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?
4 Turn, O LORD, and deliver me;
save me because of your unfailing love.
5 No one remembers you when he is dead.
Who praises you from the grave?
6 I am worn out from groaning;
all night long I flood my bed with weeping
and drench my couch with tears.
7 My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
they fail because of all my foes. NIV
The psalmist is in agony. Often David used such language to reveal how he felt spiritually. The psalmist is mourning over his failures. He is crushed. Have you ever felt crushed over your sin? When David was convicted of his adultery with Bathsheba he felt as though his bones were crushed (Psalms 51:8). These verses are a commentary on Jesus’ statement in the mountainside sermon.
Matthew 5:3-4
3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted. NIV
The apostle Paul is saved. But listen to how he was totally dependent upon God for deliverance in his struggle.
2 Corinthians 1:8-11
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. NIV
Paul is experiencing deliverance. His experience of deliverance prepares him to understand those who need to be delivered. I believe the most touching words the apostle Paul ever wrote are found in the verses I am about to read. He is speaking of how the Corinthians found God’s way in their spiritual struggle to become like Christ. Paul wrote the first letter to the Corinthians to address multiple problems. His second letter is very encouraging. Instead of being condemned for their sin, they are commended for their earnestness in their struggle.
2 Corinthians 7:8-13
8 Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it — I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— 9 yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 11 See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter. 12 So even though I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did the wrong or of the injured party, but rather that before God you could see for yourselves how devoted to us you are. 13 By all this we are encouraged. NIV
The gift of God’s grace assured the Corinthian’s eternal salvation as they were in the process of becoming more like Christ. They were considered innocent because of their eagerness to make it right.
It is our willingness to make things write that reveals we are saved. Paul writes, “So even though I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did the wrong or of the injured party, but rather that before God you could see for yourselves how devoted to us you are. By all this we are encouraged.” I have never seen a more encouraging way of dealing with problems among Christians.
Example of David’s Sinful Failure
When Nathan came to confront David with his sin, Nathan told David his sin had been taken away (2 Samuel 12:13), yet, David’s need went beyond simple forgiveness. David pleas for deliverance. Listen to Psalms 38 as David pleads for God’s mercy to intercede in his life as he reaps the consequences of his own sinful behavior.
Psalms 38:1-22
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.
9 All my longings lie open before you, O 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 seek my life set their traps,
those who would harm me talk of my ruin;
all day long they plot deception.
13 I am like a deaf man, who cannot hear,
like a mute, who cannot open his mouth;
14 I have become like a man who does not hear,
whose mouth can offer no reply.
15 I wait for you, O LORD;
you will answer, O Lord my God.
16 For I said, "Do not let them gloat
or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips."
17 For I am about to fall,
and my pain is ever with me.
8 I confess my iniquity;
I am troubled by my sin.
19 Many are those who are my vigorous enemies;
those who hate me without reason are numerous.
20 Those who repay my good with evil
slander me when I pursue what is good.
21 O LORD, do not forsake me;
be not far from me, O my God.
22 Come quickly to help me,
O Lord my Savior. NIV
God’s hand of discipline has come down upon David. David writes, “I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.” David is in despair. Reaping what we sow is often how God disciplines us for our sin. David pleads for mercy in his discipline as he pours forth his depressed feelings. He feels as though his sin seeks to alienate and destroy him, but he fights his way back into the heart of God through prayer. He refuses to be driven away from God with guilt and despair.
Have you ever felt crushed because of personal failure? Have you ever felt crushed because you did the righteous thing and felt the onslaught of Satan? Sometimes this kind of agony is more discouraging because you feel it is unfair.
David not only mourned over his sin, but he feared his enemies would exploit him in his time of weakness. His friends were turning their backs on him because of his unspeakable sin. He not only committed adultery, but also murdered Bethsheba’s husband to cover his sin. He fears the same vengeance taken out on those looked upon as leaders today when they fail.
You begin to realize David’s need for God’s merciful intervention when you understand more of the story of his adultery. Ahithophel was a trusted counselor of King David. David’s problem was that Ahithophel was the grandfather of Bethsheba. David’s sin brought shame upon Bethsheba’s family and Ahithophel sought revenge. Ahithophel persuades Absalom to lead a rebellion against David to disgrace David. Absalom was persuaded to rape all of David concubines to bring shame upon David.
2 Samuel 16:21-23
21 Ahithophel answered, "Lie with your father's concubines whom he left to take care of the palace. Then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself a stench in your father's nostrils, and the hands of everyone with you will be strengthened." 22 So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he lay with his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel.
23 Now in those days the advice Ahithophel gave was like that of one who inquires of God. That was how both David and Absalom regarded all of Ahithophel's advice. NIV
In the end Absalom’s rebellion failed, and he was killed. Ahithophel went home and set his house in order and hung himself. However, David’s shame was well known through out Israel.
Yet, God sustained David as king because “the LORD had determined to frustrate the good advice of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom” (2 Samuel 17:20). Sometimes God’s deliverance seems a pretty nasty ordeal as we reap what we have sown, but it is nevertheless the Lord’s way of delivering us in the process of developing us into the kind of people he wants us to be—a people after God’s own heart.
David was a man who mournfully sought to be a man after God’s own heart in the midst of his sinfulness. I am sure he didn’t feel saved, but he was.
Conclusion:
Isn’t it time for God’s people to turn to almighty God for deliverance. Deliverance is ours for the asking. God will never leave us nor forsake us.
Our total redemption was accomplished when Jesus cried, “It is finished!” His death on the cross paid it all. Forgiveness doesn’t always leave us feeling forgiven. We must delve into the Scriptures to deal with the reality of how we feel. Too often this is the last place we look. Rather than searching the Scriptures we turn to inspirational self-help books. Self-help books are a multi-billion dollar industry today. It is an indication that the vast majority of people need help, and is looking for answers. The self-help books are usually very inspirational, but we need more than inspiration. We need deliverance. Inspiration is like a short-lived opiate high. When the high is over we are no better off.
God’s sustaining power for living is revealed through the Scriptures. God’s purpose and design for each of our lives is revealed in Scripture. It is a great help to go back to the Word of God and see those faithful people marching across the pages of time. We can identity with them in their struggles. We can see how God dealt with them and get a taste of what God is going to do for each of us. God gave us real life stories of how he worked in their lives so we can discover our identity through those stories.
Bible Study Questions
1. How is it that we can be forgiven but we don’t feel forgiven?
2. Explain the difference in seeing salvation as a process rather than a destination?
3. What are some reasons we may question the sufficiency of our salvation?
4. What is the greatest need of a saved person?
5. Where does Satan take up a stronghold in the Christian?
6. Why is the psalmist rejoicing in Psalms 37:39-40?
7. How is Psalms 6:17 a good commentary on Matthew 5:3-4?
8. What was God’s reason for Paul’s struggles in 2 Corinthians 1:8-11?
9. How do you explain the gentleness of Paul in 2 Corinthians 7:18-22 as he deals with the problems in Corinth?
10. What is the true test that we have been saved?
11. Discuss David’s adultery with Bathsheba and its far reaching consequences?
