"Have A Healthy New Year"

“Have A Healthy New Year”

Psalm 26

INTRODUCTION: The new year is almost upon us. We often greet each other, “Have a healthy and prosperous New Year!”

Tonight, I want us to take a look at having a “Healthy New Year”. Sometimes we need an annual SPIRITUAL check-up, just like we need an annual PHYSICAL check-up.

I couldn’t be a Doctor. Besides the blood & needles & sharp scalpels … there’s all those sick people! How depressing! Sick people all day long … you can’t get away from them. When you go to your office, they’re there waiting for you! If you go to the hospital, they’re there! You get them well, and they turn around and get sick all over again! Even Jesus said in Mt. 9:12 – “They that are well need not a physician, but they that are sick.”

Doctors see you at your worst, and hear all your aches, complaints, pains & physical ailments. When they see a patient on the street or in a restaurant, they want free medical advice. How depressing!

Just once, I would like to make an appointment with my Doctor … sit down in the examining room … and, when he asks what’s wrong, say “Nothing … I just wanted to stop by and cheer you up!” But, at his prices, I think I’ll just go to him when I’m sick!

This is what David is doing in Psalm 26. He’s going to the Great Physician, and he’s getting a SPIRITUAL check-up … only to find out … that he’s spiritually fit! David has been taking preventative medicine for his soul. He has found the remedy for sin, and he has applied it to his heart & life.

David was a man after God’s own heart. He wanted to please God in everything he did. He didn’t always do it … but that’s what he always wanted to do. God honored that desire of David’s heart … just like He will honor your heart if you have that desire.

Let’s take a look at David’s chart … and see how we can have a HEALTHY New Year.

26:1 – “Judge me, O Lord” … THEN … 26:2.

How many of us would ask God to do that? Only one who is right with God … in fellowship with Him … confessed up … repented of all known sin … with a clear and clean conscience … can say this.

This is like taking a test. I never liked “pop tests” … where the teacher surprised you with a test when you weren’t ready. I called them “sudden death”! I liked to know when a test was coming. To do good on “pop tests”, you have to know the material and be ready at all times.

We don’t want the Lord to examine our heart if we aren’t ready … if we know there is un-confessed sin in our life. David was ready for God’s test … any time. He knew his heart was right with God. He’s not afraid for God to examine his heart … to test him.

Have you come to this place in your life … that you can ask God to examine your heart? David said “judge me … examine me … test me”. David could stand before God with a clean heart and a clear conscience … and open his soul to God.

HOW could he do this? WHY is he able to go to the Great Physician HEALTHY instead of SPIRITUALLY SICK?

26:1 – “I have trusted also in the Lord”. David knows that victory over sin & temptation … and the peace of God … only comes FROM GOD. It wasn’t his “trust” that gave him the victory … it was his trust in the LORD.

David trusted God to keep him from “back trouble”. How many of you have “back trouble”? NOTICE what David said in 26:1b … “therefore I shall not slide” … “backsliding”. David knew that as long as he trusted in the Lord, God could keep him from sliding back into sin. As son as he started looking to his own strength … trusting in himself … he would start to slide backward.

26:3a – What did David see when he looked at God’s faithfulness to him? He saw God’s “loving-kindness”. Has God been good to you this past year? AMEN? You may have experienced some tragedies … some hard times … some disappointments. BUT … it could have been worse! If it wasn’t for God’s loving-kindness … His grace & mercy … the Devil would have had a hey-day in your life. When you are Spiritually healthy, like David, you will see the positive side of everything that God allows in your life.

26:3 – “I have walked in THY truth.” Compare with 26:1 – “I have walked in MINE integrity.” In 26:1, as far as he knew, he was walking the way he should. His walk equaled his talk … he didn’t do 1 thing & believe another … he practiced what he preached. He could say with the Apostle Paul in Acts 23:1 – “I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.”