Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Psalmist's Sense of Guilt (Psalms 25-41)

This morning I read Psalms 15-41 for my morning devotions. The Psalms have been my refuge in times of health and of sickness. Reading seventeen psalms meditatively takes about an hour but I read it with special attention to verses that I felt spoke to me directly in my immediate context. How wonderful to know that God is there and will make our beds when we are sick. The Psalm does not deal with the reasons why we might fall sick but instead focuses on God's loving care and watch over us as we are bedridden with some illness. A latter Psalm does links the Psalmist's illness with his sins and perhaps that is how the Psalmist perceives his present condition in the sight of God. I am amazed by the number of times over several psalms that the Psalmist acknowledges his sins (25:18), confessing them (Psalm 32) and even feels in one Psalm that his sins are more than the hairs of his head (Psalm 40).
For whatever the cause of the Psalmist's predicament he is ready to cry out to God to be forgiven and that his sanity and wellbeing is restored along with his physical health. Lord I cry out to You and He will save me...The Psalmist exalts when he feels God is near him but when God appears to hide his face the Psalmist is distraught and his sense of invincibilty dissappears. God's presence in the Psalmist is pervasive and while God's favour appears most inviting and irresistible but yet the Psalmist can express his sense of anguish and pleads that God turns his gaze from him. God's gaze over the Psalmist is at once welcome and threatening as no human is righteous before God and God's wrath can break out against human transgression at anytime and hence the Psalmist's tortured heart that if God would not direct His gaze on him or in other words be easy on his failings and sins in order that he may live ad not be destroyed by God's holiness.

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