I’m shaken after meditating on Psalm 78. And it’s interesting that it came up in my reading this most holy of weeks, where our remembrance of the first holy week is full of defeat, blundering and failure. It is a bit encouraging. Not that we want to excuse our failures, but encouraging that there’s hope for us. Sin will never satisfy like obedience does. It only creates more ravishing pull.
Getting a glimpse of what our sin does to God:
God vulnerably shows His heart in Psalm 78
- :40 His people grieved Him in the desert
- :41 They limited God (i.e., in their arrogance “allowed” only so much, thinking they knew better) Of course, He can overpower but often waits for an invitation.
- :41 They pained the Holy One!
- :42 They didn’t remember His power (after all they’d seen!)
- :52-55 He guided them, brought them out of slavery and gave them an inheritance yet they
- :56-58 rebelled, turned back, provoked Him and aroused His jealousy.
Who puts up with this?! Who is this God?
So He had to let them go…he had to give them up in order to get them to turn back. In an earlier cycle the same happened:
:34 then they sought Him, returned and searched diligently for God and remembered…
there is always redemption when we turn toward Him.
What our sin does to us:
- :18 they focused on their desires rather than His promises. (Our desires can be good things, but not at the expense of remembering and asking God.)
- :22 it fostered unbelief
- :32 in spite of His answers they refused to respond either to miracles or to judgment.
- :33 they missed what God had for them.
- :36 they “flattered” him (praised Him with their tongue but their hearts were far from Him)
- :37 their repentance was shallow, no heart change
How lurking sin (like an enemy) tricks us, pulls us, limits us, sets us back, saps us of strength and life. We take it lightly, not realizing the depth of consequences. Yes, there is grace greater than all our sin!!
Amen! I’m so glad.
But there is also grace before we sin; so we don’t have to sin. Grace that gives us strength and power to choose otherwise.
Hallelujah!
Grace to walk in newness of life, to “not let sin reign in our bodies to obey its lusts” Rom. 6:12
“Don’t receive the grace of God is vain.” 2 Cor. 6:1
As Beth Moore says:
I say this with tremendous empathy to those of you in my former estate. I earned the right to my defeat. If you knew the details of my past, few of you would wonder why I couldn’t escape the cycle of sin-cry-repent-repeat. But if Jesus had just left me there, I’d be dead by now.
Who puts up with this?! Who is this God?
He is the One who let our sin put Him on the cruel cross to bring us hope.
Hallelujah!
What small choice will you make today applying His grace so you don’t give in to sin?
“Flee…and pursue…” 1 Tim. 6:11
OR
What drastic measure do you need to take to keep you from the pull of sin?
“…throw it away…” Matt. 18:9