#DailyDevotion Confess Your Sins, Expose Them To The Light, They Lose Control Over You
Psalm 38 18I’m going to tell about my wrong – I’m worried about my sin.
Strangely enough, this is something peculiar to Christians. We confess our sins. We do not take our sins lightly. We do not try to hide them because that only gives them power over us. We confess them to God. We confess them to one another. If you don’t, you are probably not worried about them as David is here. David does not want his sin to have power over him. He had done this before with the Bathsheba affair. It did not go well with him.
Unconfessed sin is a corrosive agent to our spirit and our soul. It eats away at us and it drives us into deeper sin, guilt and shame. We must expose it to the light. As it is written in 1 John 1, “7If we live in the light as He is in the light, we have it in fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, washes us clean from every sin. 8If we say we don’t have any sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth isn’t in us. 9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, to forgive our sins and wash us clean from all unrighteousness.”
19The enemies of my life are strong, and there are many who hate me deceitfully.
Paul says our enemies are not flesh and blood but “the rulers, authorities, and lords of this dark world, against the evil spirits that are above.”(Eph. 6:12) They are too strong for us. These enemies may use flesh and blood enemies as their tools. When we pray against them, we are praying against spiritual forces of darkness behind them. Their hatred for us is from a place of deceit. They see us opposing everything they think is good when in fact we are only opposing the evil they want to do which is not good for them. They are blinded by their own sin.
20They pay me back evil for good and bitterly accuse me for trying to do good.
They will not see your warning them of sin as an act of love. They will say your actions of love towards them is hate. They will attach the ending “phobe” to whatever sin you are warning them against. Don’t take it to heart. It is God they hate. You merely represent the One they hate the most. They cannot hurt God so they try to hurt you. So they will do evil to you and bitterly accuse you for trying to do good. Don’t get dismayed. God knows what is going on. Turn to Him alone and trust Him for inward strength of heart and spirit.
21Don’t desert me, O LORD; O my God, don’t be far away from me. 22Come quickly to help me; O Lord, hasten to save me.
In the midst of confessed sin, we turn to God with hope and confidence He keeps His word. So we pray for Him to not desert us or be far away from us. We can remember Jesus’ promise, “I am with you always, even unto the end of the age” (Matt. 28) and “I will never leave you or forsake you.”(Heb. 13) We open our mouths in times of trouble and pray to the LORD Jesus Christ to come quickly and help us and save us. We have His promises He will do this. We need only wait patiently for Him to make His help to us manifest. We need not fear for Jesus is with us. He is our Immanuel (God with us).
Heavenly Father, open our lips that we may rightfully confess our sins and receive from your merciful hand forgiveness of sins for the sake of Jesus Christ, our LORD, and deliver us from the hands of spiritual forces that wrestle against us from doing Your will. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.