Live Free with Josh Howerton - Drift Happens | Ep. 381 | Monday, July 22, 2024

Episode Date: July 22, 2024

Ever wonder how I can say “that,” think “that,” or act like “that”? Psalm 51 contains King David's prayer for restoration—his confession and plea for forgiveness came after he drifted with lust and power and hid from God. Our unaddressed shame and guilt from our past can drift us away from God and can change our character. Daily, we must drop anchor with God, take ownership of our actions, and embrace His grace. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.com. Church slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, welcome to the Daily Drive. My name is Bro, and we hang here Monday through Friday for a few minutes each day, just diving into God's Word. And, man, I'm honored that you would join us, and I pray that the regular rhythm of just being in God's Word will help you get to know him better.

Recently, we've been downloading some songs onto the playlist of our heart. And they don't come from Spotify or iTunes, but they come from the pages of the Bible in the book called The Psalms. And most of these songs are the very honest, raw, vulnerable writings. of David. You might have heard of him. He tins sheep. He plays music. He takes down a giant named Goliath. He becomes king after years on the run from a maniac named Saul. And he's described as a man after God's own heart. But there's a story in his life that makes us wonder about that description. How can a man after God's own heart do what he did? You know what I've asked that question of myself, haven't you? I mean, how could I do that?

Why did I say that? How in the world can someone who is pursuing God act that way? Well, in a word, we drift. Drift happens. Just like a boat on the water, if we don't drop anchor daily with God, we drift. And the scary thing is, we don't even notice how far. And that's what happened to David. He drifted.

His lust and his power just got the best of him. And he did some unspeakably abusive things. He tries to cover it all up, but it's most of the best. of us no secret sin cannot coexist with inner peace. And the guilt and the shame began to eat him alive. Well, he writes about that experience in a couple of different Psalms. Psalm 51 is one that was written right after God confronts him about the adultery, the murder, and the cover-up plan through the prophet named Nathan. And David breaks down, and this is what he prays in Psalm 51, Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your unfailing love.

of your great compassion. Blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt, purify me from my sin. For I recognize my rebellion. It haunts me day and night. Against you, and you only have I sinned. I have done what is evil in your sight. Now did you notice in those first four verses how David owns it? He says, my sins, my guilt, my shame, my rebellion. He didn't rationalize, doesn't excuse, doesn't blame. He just owns it and is broken over his sin. And he goes directly to the one who can do something about it. He goes on, purify me from my sins, and I will be clean. Wash me and I will be whiter than snow. Oh, give me back my joy again. You have broken me. Now let me rejoice. Don't keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. Created me a clean heart,

O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence and don't take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and make me willing to obey you. No man, whenever I read that, it makes me so grateful for the grace and the mercy of God.

Because the truth is, we all got dirty laundry, right? It's been my experience that the longer we hide and live with our dirty laundry, the more those things begin to pile up and then guilt, it morphs into shame. and starts to define who we are. I don't know, but maybe for you it was a DUI,

or maybe in an affair, or maybe a failed marriage. Maybe it was a financial collapse, or maybe you cheated and you got caught, or you flunked out of school, or you got kicked out of the house, you got fired from a job. Maybe it's the abortion that still haunts you, or all kinds of different sexual encounters, or maybe you were not only the victim of abuse,

and you hated the way it made you feel, but you turned around and became an abuser. Or maybe your identity for a while was inmate number 3,8, 7, 4, 2. Or perhaps you've introduced yourself for years by saying, hi, my name is so-and-so, and I'm an alcoholic, or maybe it was gambling or drugs or porn. And what you did, or what happened back then is still,

what defines you today, it's become who you are. You see, if you let it, the past could actually hack into your soul and steal your identity. Guilt is a strange emotion to deal with, isn't it? guilt is that thing within us that says, you just crossed the line. That wasn't right. That didn't feel right. And you know what, guilt actually can be a very good thing. It's kind of like that check engine light on your car

that lets you know that you need to deal with whatever is going on under the hood of your life. I mean, if you get to the point where you don't feel that twinge of that was wrong, then your heart is headed to a cold and callous place. Guilt can actually lead us to honesty. It can lead us to confession, to forgiveness and to a better decision the next time around. Unresolved guilt, though? Guilt that gets suppressed, guilt that gets stuffed down, guilt that gets hidden, is a very destructive thing.

Anybody else have to read in high school, the novel The Tailedale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, kind of a creepy novel, where he paints this main character who has committed a murder and unable to escape the haunting guilt of his dastardly deed, he begins to hear the heartbeat of his victim that he's buried in his basement. And the cold sweat covers him as the thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump,

just goes on relentlessly until it drives the man insane. Well, ultimately it becomes clear that the pounding that drove the man crazy was not in the grave below, but in his own chest. So it is with unresolved guilt. David desperately tried to cover his sin. He tried to hide what he had done. He tried to stop his guilt. and he found out all of it is futile and devastating to your soul.

Isaiah 29, verse 15 says, What sorrow awaits those who try to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their evil deeds in the dark? The Lord can't see us, they say. He doesn't know what's going on. Well, David found out that God does see, and God does know what's going on. So eventually he comes out of hiding,

and he just starts owning it all, and he begins to experience the joy of God's soul. salvation. Now, I want to pick this up again tomorrow by moving to Psalm 32, but today, why don't we all just acknowledge the check engine light on the dashboard of our soul? Examine how far we might have drifted and start coming back to the one who can create in us a new heart. We'll pick up here tomorrow. See you then. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays and Sundays. For more information about all the digital ministries of Lake Point,

visit lakepoint.church slash daily drive. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out.