Series: The Songs Of A King [#4]
CAUGHT
Psalm 103:1-22
Introduction:
Acts 13:22 (NIV)
“After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’”
“A man after God’s own heart”- Really? “He will do everything I want him to do.” Wow- I don’t think so. We all know what David did; but I’m going to sum up for you 2 Samuel 11-12. David got out of bed one night and was walking around on the roof of the palace. As he was looking around, he noticed a beautiful woman taking a bath. He then sent someone to find out about her and the report was that the woman was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. David sent messengers to bring her back to the palace and then David slept with her. Bathsheba went back home and everything was fine. “No foul, no harm”. Nobody knew what had happened and the secret was between them. Wouldn’t it be nice to have no consequences? You can do whatever you want and nobody will ever know. Except, life doesn’t work that way does it? The next verse tells us that Bathsheba sent word to David that she was pregnant. Instead of David owning up to what he had done, he began to plot a plan.
David sent a message to Joab, (the commander of the army) to send Uriah to meet with him and he did. When Uriah arrived David told Uriah to go home and enjoy his wife; but Uriah would not go into his home because none of the other soldiers were getting the same opportunity. Uriah was given the same opportunity again and David even got him drunk; but again Uriah would not go into his home. David’s next move was to have Joab put Uriah on the battlefront where he knew Uriah would die and his plan worked. Uriah died, Bathsheba mourned, and then David married Bathsheba and she had his baby. Again, David though he was “off the hook”; but he wasn’t.
God was displeased with David and sent Nathan the prophet to talk to him. When Nathan arrived, he told David a story about a rich man that had lots of cattle and sheep and a poor man who had 1 little ewe lamb that he raised and took care of like his own child. A traveler stopped at the rich man’s house and the rich man took the poor man’s 1 lamb and killed it and prepared it for the traveler for dinner.
When David heard this story he was angry and he said that the rich man should die. At once, Nathan said to David, “You are the man”. Nathan then told David how he had Uriah killed and had taken Bathsheba as his wife. David admitted that he had sinned and Nathan told him that his punishment was going to be that his family would be in constant turmoil and that the child that Bathsheba had was going to die. David wrote 4 Psalms about his being caught by God in this situation. Psalm 55 is the best known of these Psalms; but I want to look at Psalm 103 this morning and look at what you should do when you are caught in sin by God, (which by the way is every time).
Psalm 103:1-6 (NIV)
“Praise the LORD, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits- who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.”
When you are caught…
1. Remember the benefits of having God in your life.
When we get caught doing something wrong and confronted about it, it is easy to get angry and defensive. It would have been easy for David to be mad at Nathan for what he said; but instead David praised God. I want you to imagine your life without God.
Some of the benefits of following God are listed here:
He forgives all your sins.
He makes us whole.
He redeems us from Hell.
He shows us love and compassion.
He satisfies our spiritual desires.
Psalm 103:7 (NIV)
“He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel.”
When you are caught…
2. Remember that God lets us know His ways.
Part of a relationship is getting to know the other person better. You spend time with them, you tell them things about yourself, and you get to know them better. God has given us His Word, the ability to come to Him at any time, and other believers to be strengthened in Him. We need to get to know God better and sometimes that happens through us going through consequences of bad decisions.
Psalm 103:8-19 (NIV)
“The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children- with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.”
When you are caught…
3. Remember that God is compassionate.
Many times people make God out to be this mean Deity who likes to rain down punishment on people. Often when you are caught in sin and there are consequences, you are angry with God; but don’t forget all that He has done. He corrects you because He loves you. God is slow to anger, He puts up with a lot of garbage. Although we deserve eternal punishment, He takes our confessed sin and cast it away- Never to remember it again.
Psalm 103:20-22 (NIV)
“Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will. Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord, my soul.”
When you are caught…
4. Remember to praise God.
We are to praise God in the good times and the bad. We are to give glory to God for that He has done.
Conclusion:
What is it in your life that you need to confess to God? He knows what it is; but you need to tell Him so that you know what you have done so that you can stop doing that.
