What is the worst thing you have ever done?

A Series from the Psalms on “Disappointment with God”

Psalm 38

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2038&version=NIV;NLT

  

In preparing for this devotional, I ran across a You Tube video where 100 people answered the question, “What is the worst thing you have ever done”? How would you answer that question?

 

For myself, I made a short list at first; but the more I thought about it, the longer my list got. Apparently, David could have made his own list.

…my health is broken because of my sins.
My guilt overwhelms me…
My wounds fester and stink…
I am bent over and racked with pain…
A raging fever burns within me…
I am exhausted and completely crushed…       Psalm 38:3-8 NLT

 

Sin has consequences! For David, it resulted in an illness that sounds like a catastrophic combination of a severe open infection, the H1N1 flu pandemic of 1918 and intense stomach cramps, no doubt resulting in repeated trips to the bathroom.

 

In reality, we are all sick like David. Maybe our sin doesn’t result in physical illness, but there’s no doubt that we are sick. It’s a sickness that alienates us from our Heavenly Father, and ultimately leads to death. It’s a sickness that only Jesus can heal.

 

In his own words, David was a broken man; he had reached the bottom; there was no place else for him to turn. His life was out of control; so he cried out to the Lord in disappointment and desperation.

 

¹⁵ Lord, the only thing I can do is wait and put my hope in you.
I wait for your help, my God.

¹⁸ I confess all my sin to you; I can’t hold it in any longer.
My agonizing thoughts punish me for my wrongdoing;
I feel condemned as I consider all I’ve done.    

²² God, hurry to help me, run to my rescue!
For you are my Savior and my only hope!        TPT

Have you reached the bottom? Are you at the point where you are ready to turn away from your sin? Is it time for you to cry out to the Lord? There’s no better time than now. And He’s waiting to listen to you.

 

Too Busy to Play Catch

A Series on “Disappointment with God”

A look at the Psalms

Psalm 13

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2013&version=NIV;NLT;MSG

 

There was a song in 1974 by Harry Chapin called, “Cats in the Cradle”. It was about a father who was too busy for his son as he was growing up, and the son who became too busy for his father after he grew up.

My son turned ten just the other day
He said, thanks for the ball, dad, come on let's play
Can you teach me to throw,

I said, not today I got a lot to do

I can relate to this song because I felt that way about my own Dad when I was younger. It seemed like almost everything was more important than me. Work was more important; Lions Club was more important; church was more important; civic duties were more important. He was too busy to play catch.

 

That’s how anyone would feel if the person whose love you need the most always seemed to be withheld from you. David knew how that felt.

 

¹ O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever?
    How long will you look the other way?           NLT

¹ Long enough, God—
    you’ve ignored me long enough.
I’ve looked at the back of your head long enough.      MSG

 

If we’re honest with ourselves, we sometimes feel this same way towards God. Why doesn’t He listen to me? Why doesn’t He answer my prayers? Why is everything else more important than me? Those are honest feelings and rarely do we recognize them, let alone confess them. Yet, David wrote these words also,

 

⁵ But I trust in your unfailing love.
    I will rejoice because you have rescued me.
⁶ I will sing to the Lord
    because he is good to me.           NLT

 

Despite feeling alienated, ignored and isolated from God, David also recognized God’s unfailing love. My Dad was too busy to play catch; but my Heavenly Father is always there for me.