Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Case for Confession | The Writings | Psalm 38

Episode Date: February 21, 2024

Do you feel like you should be a better Christian by now? Is it hard for you to admit when you're wrong? Do you wish you would sin less? In today's episode, Jensen provides a case for coming clean about your sin. Find encouragement in Psalm 38. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Psalm 38

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. Are you good at admitting when you're wrong? I am not. I hate it when other people draw attention to my failures, so I avoid most opportunities that I'm given to do it on my own. You see, social media has only made that tendency worse. When I open my glowing six-inch screen and click on that enticing pink door, way into Instagram. I make choices. I decide how I want the world to see me. I can build a replica of me, one where I hide my flaws. I shift and craft and cover up and manipulate an image of myself that says quite literally whatever I want it to say to the world. I think we've all become good at putting on a show, all the while concealing behind the curtain the parts of us that we find

less appealing. We'd hate for the world to know the worst of us, so we only give them the best. And why stop there? The skills we've acquired on social media sneaks into our relationships, our small groups, our churches, our families, and our relationship with God. We see the perfection of other people's online identities, and we try everything we can to hide the fact that our reality doesn't measure up. And this does something to us. In our our effort to present our best self to the world, we've become uncomfortable with acknowledging our sin. We'd rather push it away than confront it. Concealment over confession. Our fear of being found out has truncated vulnerability. It has killed confession, and it has left us walking around

pretending like we have it all together, all the while leaving our sin to fester in the secret corners of our lives. In my own life, this constant effort to look perfect, to hide my sin, the fear of failing of my sin being on display has kept me from an awareness of my need for Christ. I'd rather believe in this false identity I've crafted. I think I'm doing okay. I don't give time to introspection. I don't take correction well, and I let myself live in a lie that I'm a pretty good person. Now, some of this desire to appear more whole. holy than I am comes from a faulty belief that I should be better, that at this point in my walk with Jesus, I should have less sin. I should have it all together. Recently, though, I've been confronted

with the reality that the more I grow, the more closely I get to a holy God, the more I understand about who he is, I should actually become more aware of my sinfulness. If I'm truly aware of who God is, I can clearly see my need of him. I see all the ways that I fail to live up, that I'm unworthy to stand before him. And it is terrifying because it's becoming harder to conceal, harder to hide, harder to convince myself and the people around me that I'm not a broken, sinful human being in need of a Savior.

But the fact of the matter is that I am. And so are you. And so is every other person working overtime to convince you. you that they have it all figured out. Now here's the issue. We cannot be in right relationship with God if we fail to admit that truth to ourselves. We cannot have vulnerable life-giving relationships if we fail to admit that truth to one another. First John 1-9 tells us that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. James 516 implores us to confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.

See, we are called to confess our sins to God and to fellow believers, to humble ourselves, to recognize that we are not God, that we do not have it all together, that we desperately need him to heal us, to forgive us, to cleanse us. It's hard to do that when we're busy at work convincing ourselves in the world, around us that we don't mess up, that we aren't sinful, that we have this whole Christianity thing down pat. That's why I found today's passage so convicting. In it, we find a psalm of petition written by David. David is pouring out his heart to the Lord, telling him of the troubles that he is facing. His words are descriptive, his troubles are real, and they threaten to overwhelm him. The interesting thing about this Psalm is that as we read David's words, we realize the trouble he is facing is because of a sin he is committed. Let's read from Psalm 38 now. Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or

discipline me in your wrath. Your arrows have pierced me and your hand has come down on me. Because of your wrath, there is no health in my body, there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin. My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly. I am bowed down and brought very low. All day long I go about mourning. My back is filled with searing pain. There is no health in my body. I am feeble and utterly crushed. I groan in anguish of heart. All my longings lie open before you, Lord. My sighing is not hidden from you. Can you hear the desperation in his voice? The picture that David gives us of his life is not good. He isn't covering up the mess.

He is laying it at God's feet. He not only descriptively tells us of his anguish, but he's also admitting that he's taken part in bringing it upon himself. David is not concealing. He is confessing. He's not explaining away his sin. He's aware of it, aware of its effects. We see him grieving his sin.

To be clear, this passage isn't saying that all are troubled, come because we sin, it is saying that in this specific instance, David can clearly see how his own sin has caused him great trouble and grief. And he owns it, shining a light on his sin so that it cannot continue to hide and fester in his life. Later in the psalm, he says it plainly, I confess my iniquity, I am troubled by my sin. He is not comfortable with his sin. It troubles him. He does not allow himself to say things like, it's not that big of a deal, or I only did it once, or at least I'm not as bad as them. What if instead of putting on a show for the world, we allowed our hearts to be troubled by our sin?

Ephesians 430 tells us, we are not to grieve the Holy Spirit. What does that mean? Well, it means that our sin, our actions, our choices can cause grief to God. It pains him to see us rebelling against a God who loves us. Francis Chan in his book Forgotten God asks this question. Are we more worried about grieving the Holy Spirit or about causing grief to ourselves? It's a convicting question. Am I more worried about causing myself grief?

Making myself uncomfortable by letting the world see that I don't have it all together, by admitting when I've wronged others, by humbling myself? See, it's much more comfortable to hide it all away. But when we ignore our sin, when we continue to let it grow in the dark corners of our lives, we grieve the spirit. Now, which of those two things do I believe is worse? It's a question that we all have to answer. We may know in our heads that we don't want to grieve God, that we want to be faithful, to confess our sin, to obey, to cut out sin when we find it, to share vulnerably with our communities, to live humble lives.

but the practicality of making that choice is hard, but the benefit that comes is far greater. Remember what First John and James told us. When we confess, we find healing, forgiveness, and we're cleansed. David ends his psalm saying this, Lord, do not forsake me, do not be far from me, my God, come quickly to help me. my Lord and my Savior. Even knowing that he has sinned, knowing that he is currently facing the negative effects of his choices, he is still able to draw near to God and ask him to be close, to come quickly, to help him. You see, David's confession to God does not drive him away. It does not make God wag his finger

and tell David to get out of his sight. Our fear that when people see our brokenness, our fear that when we tell them that we've messed up, that they would turn from us, not want to be with us anymore? That fear has no place in our relationship with God. Confession and humility opens the door to a healthy and flourishing relationship. God already knows. The secret corners of our lives are not secret to him. He wants us to bring our failures, our mistakes, our rebellion and sin to his feet. And when we do, he draws near. This is the same God that became man so that he could die for your sins. The same God that came back to life so that one day you could live alongside him in his kingdom forever. What if we all

just stopped trying to look perfect? What if in our communities we confessed our sins? We were honest about our brokenness. What if we made space for our neighbors, our friends, our families' mistakes? What if we showed one another grace and mercy even when they sin together? We were honest. us. How wonderful would it be to know that no matter what I do I am loved, that in the midst of failure, when I confess my sin, when I grieve, I am met with open arms. See, the goal isn't to live in self-loathing for our sin, or to just be cool with all our sin being out in the open. Maybe instead of spending all our time trying to hide our sin, we would spend more time trying to fight it.

Maybe we would be less worried about causing ourselves grief and more worried about the ways that we grieve the spirit. And maybe, as we grow in this and build communities that look like this, we would grow in holiness together, clinging to the cross, always aware of our need to be near the God who saves, redeems, and loves us.