Psalm 79

Read Psalm 79 ESV

Who - Asaph writes a lament to the LORD.

What - The psalmist is lamenting to the LORD at the destruction of Israel and and the death of many Israelites at the hands of foreign invaders.  

When - The Psalmist does not specifically say when this happened, but the description only fits the Babylonian conquest and exile.  

Where - Unstated, but most likely Jerusalem.  

Why - The psalmist acknowledges the sins of the nation that have caused this destruction and it is the LORD’S anger poured out on them.  The psalmist is asking the LORD to relent and repay the hostile invaders.

Psalm 51

Read Psalm 51 ESV

Who - David is talking to the LORD. Then he made it into a song for Israel to sing to the LORD.  

When - After Nathan confronts David about his adultery, abuse of power, murder and cover up (2 Sam 12:1-14) 

Where - David's palace, perhaps in his throne room

What and Why - David has been confronted by Nathan for his sin with Bathsheba and against Uriah.  David expresses in this psalm his guiltiness, remorse and repentance.  He acknowledges his wrongs and asks God to forgive him.  Yet David asks for more than forgiveness, David asks for restoration, restoration in his relationship with God and his role as instructor in the LORD’S ways.  

Understanding Our Sinfulness

“Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths” (Gen 3:7).

Do we really understand the fullness of our sinful state? Apart from the working of God’s Holy Spirit it is impossible to understand just how awful our sinfulness is. The reason I know this is because Adam and Eve didn’t understand the fullness of their sin when they ate from the Tree of Knowledge.

If ever there where two humans who truly understood the fullness of God it had to be Adam and Eve before they sinned. Before they were sinners they saw God and experienced Him in ways no other person could imagine, except Jesus. They saw Him in His glory like none of us have. They knew Him in an intimate way that none of us can. Yet when they sinned by disobeying God’s command not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, the only concern they had was that they were naked. Hello!! You just disobeyed God and the only thing you can think about is that you don’t have any clothes on! This one sentence in Genesis 3:7 shows that they did not understand the fullness of their sin when they disobeyed God.

So I ask you my friends, if Adam and Eve didn’t understand how serious and how grievous their sin was on their own, how can you and I possibly understand how sinful we are on our own? We can’t. And because we can’t, we need a working of the Holy Spirit to understand just how sinful we are. Our hearts are deceitful; they are always trying to deceive us about how grievous and offensive we are to God when we sin. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9)

So what? So what that we don’t understand how sinful we are? We cannot appreciate how much God sacrificed (John 3:16), we cannot fully grasp how deep the Father’s love for us (I John 3:1), we cannot see how glorious Christ death on the Cross is (II Cor 3:16-18) until we understand how wretched and sinful we are. Until we see our sinfulness as it really is, we will never appreciate the gift of God’s grace and mercy of salvation through Jesus Christ! That’s the “so what.”

Here is a very important point. We don’t seek to understand how sinful we are, or help others to see how sinful they are, to lower our self image or be masochistic. The reason we seek to understand how sinful we are is so we can see how blessed and beautiful Jesus is, how loving God is. We need to understand our sinfulness so we can see God’s glory better and brighter.

“Lord, help me to see my sinfulness and understand how offensive I am to you when I sin. Oh Holy Spirit let me see just how bright and beautiful the triune God is by knowing how sin stained I am. Then Lord, warm my heart and soul with the fullness of your love for me through Christ death on the Cross and the forgiveness of my sins, in Jesus name, amen.

Personalizing Isaiah 53

“Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. . . . But of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:4-6, 11-12).

When we read passages about Christ’s suffering and paying the penalty for our sins it is often easy to distant ourselves from those words. “Jesus paid the penalty for peoples sins.” We can fool ourselves into seeing us individually as not the causes of his suffering but a generic group which we are part of but at a distant. Such an attitude results in our emotionally and psychologically separating Jesus’ suffering from any responsibility on our part. When this attitude develops in our minds we need to personalize the suffering of Christ to bring us back to the reality he suffered for us. Take the passage above from Isaiah 53:4-6, and 11-12, take the words “he” and “him” and substitute “Jesus” or “Christ”; where “our”, “their”, or “they” occur substitute “my” or “mine”; where “I” occurs substitute “God”. Now it reads like this.

“Surely Jesus has borne my griefs and carried my sorrows; yet I esteemed Christ stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But Jesus was wounded for my transgressions; he was crushed for my iniquities; upon Christ was the chastisement that brought me peace, and with Christ’s stripes I am healed. Like sheep I have gone astray; I have turned to my own way; and the LORD has laid on Christ all my iniquity. . . . Out of the anguish of Jesus’ soul he shall see and be satisfied; by Christ’s knowledge shall the righteous one, God’s servant, make me to be accounted righteous, and Jesus shall bear my iniquities. Therefore God will divide Jesus a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because Jesus poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet Christ bore my sin, and makes intercession for a transgressors, like me.”

You cannot get away from the gravity of your (my) sin that caused Christ’s suffering when Isaiah 54 becomes this personal. Nor can you (I) escape the beauty and depth of Christ’s love and passion for you (me)! Yes personalizing Isaiah 53 can be painful to see the reality of my sin being the cause of Christ’s suffering; however, it also can be joyously uplifting and the impetuous of praising Him because I see afresh the depth and richness of his love for me.