David's Detour
Oh, Lord, shepherd me along these typewritten paths.
Make me not to lie in these tempting pastures of verdant phrases.
Lead me beside the simple waters of Your truth, where souls are indeed restored.
Lead me, for Your name's sake, through the valley of shadowy truths, for there is great error in exaggeration.
Be with me — discipline my word with the rod of Your economy and support my own integrity with the staff of Your authenticity.
You have prepared a tablet before me in the presence of distraction.
Limit the over flow of my mind unto the words of Your goodness and mercy, that I might write honestly of the joy of Your fellowship.
As I speak of forsaking makeshift shelter, let me tell it like it is, or not tell it at all.
I pray in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Although my character does not have the grandeur of David's and the specifics of my guilt have not been his, I have knelt as he knelt and stood as he stood to praise the Lord of restoration.
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There is a verse in Psalms 107 that reflects my own experience: "He sent his word, and healed them...."
The Word of God came to me in the same way that Nathan came to David. Under that revelation, I was convicted of sin and brought out from under guilt into fellowship.
I had run away from God. I had gotten pretty far afield in philosophy and practice not honoring to His principles. I was, to say the least, out of fellowship.
I find it very difficult to forgive, and could not imagine God forgiving me! Isn't it funny how frequently we limit God to what we would or would not do? You see, God forgives. But in the first place, I was afraid to face God. In the second place, I thought there was nothing in the plan of God for me, even if I were reinstated. Why should I go through the agony of an open encounter with God, when there was no future for me in a fellowship I didn't think was available for me in the first place?
God used many people who, like Nathan, did not budge. They confronted me with the truth of God's precious procedure and gave me a key. Confession!
Confession means to agree with God that sin is sin. It means to accept God's viewpoint toward the particular sin wedged into our relationship. It means to call it by name — by its real name.
When I honestly confess my sin, Scripture says Jesus Christ faces God the Father and says, "I died for that one. Take it off her record."
However, the principle of confession does not give us a freeway into and out of sin. The truly broken and
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contrite heart does not plan to resume the sin for which Christ died. Sin may still offer an inviting call, but the power of that call has been broken by seeing sin as it truly is: a deliberate act against the living God.
Unconfessed sins do not threaten my eternal security that was settled when I accepted Christ in the first place but they clog up the works of my daily fellowship.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 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. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins....
1 John 1:7-2:2
Notice the special points.
If we say we have not sinned, His Word is not in us. It was the Word of God that illuminated the dark closet where my sins were all jumbled together in unrecognized blackness.
David was confronted by Nathan, I was confronted
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by the Bible. It was the clinical action of the Holy Spirit that told me my problems were not guilt feelings, but guilt! There is only complacency in ignorance. God gives us peace through knowledge.
If we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another.Being out of fellowship with God also means we are out of fellowship with one another. When I'm not right with God, I'm seldom at ease with those that are. Furthermore, when I'm not right with God, I don't even enjoy fellowship with others who are not right with Him!
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He is faithful! He is true to His Word.
These three points make up the principle of confession. In Psalms 51 we can read how David applied this principle in his life.
For I acknowledge my transgression: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
Psalms 51:3,4
David confessed his sin eloquently and belatedly. The simplest way to deal with guilt is to handle it quickly. It's the guilt that stays there unconfessed that causes the festering.
David met the specific reality of his sin's action. "Against thee, and thee only, have I sinned." Neither circumstances, social considerations, or the honor of
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any wounded party change the nature of sin. It is an act against God! You may need to make restitution with other people, but the primary issue is to get right with God.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
Psalms 51:12, 13
"Oh, Lord," David cried, "give me again the joy of our fellowship." It is my deepest personal feeling that the great need in the Christian community today is for Christians to be restored to fellowship. Some believers are out of touch with the Lord who bought them and have no joy in their redemption. They are redeemed, because God keeps all His promises, but they are unproductive and cannot run to bring the good tidings!
David could say, "I am His and He is mine, but oh, the awesome agony of that broken daily fellowship!" The joy was gone. The testimony no longer poured out from that sweet psalmist of Israel.
Out of the experience of that restoration, David would teach others. God will take that sordid detour of sin and render even that productive. Once again God is the Glorious Scavenger! Your experience of restoration is totally unique and has a ministry of its own. God will allow you to teach others. Restored, you will not be wasted! Out of that mire there will come a ministry.
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That is the principle that freed David, that freed me, and that can free you. Confess your sins. Get rid of the guilt!
The elevators in my high-rise apartment building contain a lesson on confession, believe it or not! Those two elevators are not really winners.
One of them is a slow thinker. The doors open, the passengers enter, the floor buttons are pushed, and the elevator thinks about it. We prod it along with helpful hints, like pushing the "close door" button, but we never speak harshly, because then this particular elevator, which cannot take criticism, turns off all its lights.
The other elevator also has problems. It is more artistic and less dependable than the slow thinker, which will eventually get you to the proper floor. The second elevator stops on any floor that catches its imagination! Unfortunately, it becomes so tenderly involved with its playful passengers that sometimes it never opens its door to let them out. All that is needed to remedy the situation is vigorous pounding of the door on the floor where the elevator has stalled, but dogs being rushed to the first floor for their walks occasionally no longer need them!
The other day I saw the manager conferring with two servicemen. She pointed to the riskier elevator, and I felt a rush of relief things were going to be better! When the workmen had left, I found our errant elevators still retained their personalities, but had brand-new carpets!
This is so typical of the way we try to handle guilt.
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We don't repair the mechanism, we just work on its appearance. The principle of forgiveness gets the mechanism back in order. Confess! God forgives, and you can get up and get back to work with joy.
But what about all those who have been irrevocably damaged by our guilt? The innocent ones whom our guilt splattered with mucky clay. The believer restored looks with sudden awareness at the havoc his guilt has caused. Some of it may indeed be past repair.
Israel had suffered from David's guilt. The authority he had exercised in obedience to God had crumbled in his disobedience. The guilty detours he had taken left a pattern on the trails of his sons, his family, his nation.
.... build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
Psalms 51:18
"Lord, repair what my actions have damaged!" God's sovereign selection determines what scars are erased and what remain, but we can release our request to Him. God, who bends low to offer His whole person to you as you kneel in confession, will go where you have been in your error and then stand with you to lead you back into action, restored.
David's makeshift shelter off the track, out of the running is just as empty as Hannah's was. They learned the way to deal victoriously with the depression of frustration and guilt.
