The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 39:1-3,
"I said, 'I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth while in the presence of the wicked.' So I remained utterly silent, not even saying anything good. But my anguish increased; my heart grew hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue..."
In David's attempt to keep himself from sin by watching his ways and keeping his tongue from sin, he found he simply could not contain it, "But my anguish increased; my heart grew hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue..." David struggled with sin. When he spoke with his tongue, he said, "Save me from all my transgressions", verse 8.
David had the Holy Spirit within him in one way or the other as we read of in Psalm 51. Since it was prior to Jesus Christ offering himself as a propitiation for our sin, and the resultant new birth we receive when we embrace him in faith, David's was a different experience than ours as believers. He simply could not master sin as he so clearly states in this psalm. Believers today, on the other hand, are no longer enslaved to sin as we were prior to our regeneration (being born again), "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin." Romans 6:6-7. Paul goes on to say, "But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness." Romans 6:17-18.
It is my opinion that David's experience with sin was more like the experience Paul talks about in Romans 7:14-20. There Paul talks about the dominance of the sinful nature of anyone who has yet to be regenerated. He does so using the first person personal pronoun in a figure of speech substituting the present tense of the verb for the past, called "heterosis of tenses" (present tense for the past in this case). As he does so, he claims the same passion for keeping God's law as all Israel did (at least at times) as pictured in their "traditions of the elders" and as witnessed to by Paul himself in Romans 10:2, "For I can testify about them [unsaved Israelites] that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge."
Sin's dominance in the life of someone not born again or regenerated cannot be overstated. The Scriptures call it an enslavement! Perhaps this helps explain some of the things we see in the lives of some of the ones around us. And, perhaps also, it helps explain some of the things we look back on in our own lives.
A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know..
"I said, 'I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth while in the presence of the wicked.' So I remained utterly silent, not even saying anything good. But my anguish increased; my heart grew hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue..."
In David's attempt to keep himself from sin by watching his ways and keeping his tongue from sin, he found he simply could not contain it, "But my anguish increased; my heart grew hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue..." David struggled with sin. When he spoke with his tongue, he said, "Save me from all my transgressions", verse 8.
David had the Holy Spirit within him in one way or the other as we read of in Psalm 51. Since it was prior to Jesus Christ offering himself as a propitiation for our sin, and the resultant new birth we receive when we embrace him in faith, David's was a different experience than ours as believers. He simply could not master sin as he so clearly states in this psalm. Believers today, on the other hand, are no longer enslaved to sin as we were prior to our regeneration (being born again), "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin." Romans 6:6-7. Paul goes on to say, "But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness." Romans 6:17-18.
It is my opinion that David's experience with sin was more like the experience Paul talks about in Romans 7:14-20. There Paul talks about the dominance of the sinful nature of anyone who has yet to be regenerated. He does so using the first person personal pronoun in a figure of speech substituting the present tense of the verb for the past, called "heterosis of tenses" (present tense for the past in this case). As he does so, he claims the same passion for keeping God's law as all Israel did (at least at times) as pictured in their "traditions of the elders" and as witnessed to by Paul himself in Romans 10:2, "For I can testify about them [unsaved Israelites] that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge."
Sin's dominance in the life of someone not born again or regenerated cannot be overstated. The Scriptures call it an enslavement! Perhaps this helps explain some of the things we see in the lives of some of the ones around us. And, perhaps also, it helps explain some of the things we look back on in our own lives.
A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know..
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