Get Real
Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled. – Psalms 6:2
The majority of people that live in our world today are quick to judge others, but when it comes to their own shortcomings or sins, they find every excuse in the book to justify their own actions. People generally have very little grace to give others because they are so busy giving it to themselves. Overall, the mentality of the society we live in think that what they are doing wrong is ok for them. You can hear the excuses they make justifying their behavior. Phrases like: “God knows my heart” or “I’m a work in progress.” I think we all have heard people say: “The devil made me do it.” Or even “Who are you to judge me?” There are even some that would quote scriptures like: “We are under grace, not the law” and “saved by grace, not works.”
Even worse, instead of confessing the sin and asking God for forgiveness, they tell God the same excuses. What? Don’t you think that God knows the truth? Sin is sin and He wants us to call it what it is and get far from it. As long as you try to justify your actions, that sin will disguise itself so you cannot even identify it when it comes around.
While most of the excuses listed above may be true and some even scriptural, these cannot make your heart right with God. These words will only sooth your conscience for a short while, but in the end, you are protecting that action and trying to hide it from God your Father.
David’s approach to his sin was different than that in today’s reading. His was a prayer of humility and repentance. David got real with God. He started this Psalm with recognizing that he had offended and even stirred up God’s anger by his sin. As he came to God, he asked that God have mercy on him because he is weak. We are talking about David, probably the mightiest warrior in the bible, in this chapter confessing that he is a weak person and needs God’s help.
It would have been easy for David to justify that he was the king so it was ok. The king can do whatever he wants and you better not question him. Instead, David was honest with himself and honest with God and as he concluded his prayer of repentance, he was confident that the Lord had heard his voice and received his prayer to forgive him. When he left that place of repenting and getting forgiveness, he knew that he could get up from there and go forward on his mission for God.
Today I want to encourage you to get real! Be honest with yourself when you miss it and run to your loving heavenly Father for forgiveness. When you confess your sin is not when God finds out about it. He already knows, so go ahead and admit it to yourself and receive the cleansing He died to get for you. You do have the power to forgive others and you do have the strength to turn yourself over to the mercy of God. Only when you get honest with yourself will you find true repentance.
Today’s scripture reading: Psalms 6
1 O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger, nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.
2 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak; O Lord, heal me, for my bones are troubled.
3 My soul also is greatly troubled; But You, O Lord—how long?
4 Return, O Lord, deliver me! Oh, save me for Your mercies’ sake!
5 For in death there is no remembrance of You; In the grave who will give You thanks?
6 I am weary with my groaning; All night I make my bed swim; I drench my couch with my tears.
7 My eye wastes away because of grief; It grows old because of all my enemies.
8 Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity; For the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping.
9 The Lord has heard my supplication; The Lord will receive my prayer.
10 Let all my enemies be ashamed and greatly troubled; Let them turn back and be ashamed suddenly.
The Daily Dose 