Many people are shackled by sin. We’ve done things we shouldn’t have done. We’ve wronged people and never made things right. We even see sin in others, but can’t see our own sin. Some people are conniving, manipulating, and blinded by their own faults.
There’s a soap opera that reveals a lot about sin in “The Days of Our Lives.” Of course, that when many of us we were “THE YOUNG AND RESTLESS.” And worrying about some of the sins we committed has brought us to “THE EDGE OF NIGHT.”
Sin can cause sickness and disease. And when we get sick, guess where we go? You guessed it. We go to somebody’s “General Hospital” to see “THE DOCTORS.”
The doctors tell us that “AS THE WORLD TURNS” we’re at “THE EDGE OF NIGHT.” They inform us that we have only “ONE LIFE TO LIVE.” And if we don’t get it together we’re going to find ourselves in “ANOTHER WORLD.”
But then there’s “THE GUIDING LIGHT” that puts us on our knees. As a result, we repent and tell God all about our problems. That’s the situation we have in our text today. We find David, the man after God’s own heart praying to God. He’s saying,
“Have mercy upon me, O God…blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly
from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions:
and my sin is ever before me.“
David had been shackled by numerous transgressions against God and humanity. In our text he’s praying to the Lord saying, “My sin is ever before me.” In other words he saying, “My sin isn’t behind me. It’s not next to me. It’s right in front of me. He’s saying that this great sin is like “a shackle weighing me down.”
We’ve all been shackled by something we’ve regretted. Nobody can say she or he is faultless or sinless. Nobody’s perfect. We’ve all been plagued by some shortcoming and wrestled with defects in our lives. And yet, when it comes to somebody else’s sin, we’re the first to point fingers.
Nevertheless, David is remorseful for what he’s done. The sins of treachery, deceit and murder are getting the best of him. He has agonized over it and now he’s praying to God with a humble heart. He knows the things he’s done wrong in his life and now he’s writing about them.
His life in many ways has been like the characters in soap operas. Somebody’s wife has slept with somebody’s husband or vice versa. Now he or she is trying to scheme in order to get away with it. Some of the same basic elements in soap operas are found in the life of David. We have adultery. We have deceit and treachery. And we have murder.
Many of us are familiar with the story of David and Bathsheba. David sins with Bathsheba, resulting in adultery and murder. You will recall that God had sent the prophet Nathan to speak to David. The prophet thereupon began to tell the king a story involving two men in a city. He said one man was rich and the other man was poor.
The rich man was wealthy beyond measure and owned lots of flocks and herds. But the poor man only had one small lamb. He and his family, especially his children, loved that lamb. In fact, they would go hungry for days and wouldn’t even consider eating their pet lamb. Nathan continues by telling David that a traveler came to visit the rich man in the city. Instead of killing one of his many flocks or herds for dinner, · he slaughtered the poor man’s lamb and served it up for dinner.
As Nathan continued with the story, David became angrier and angrier. He said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; he shall restore
the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. “Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more.
Why have you despised the word to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the Lord: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall live with your wives in the sight of this very sun. For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.’
David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord; Nathan said to David, ‘Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed
you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child that is born to you shall die.”
And so, David is remorseful. He writes the words of our text as he agonizes with the shackles of guilt over his sins. He takes ownership for what he’s done. He’s not trying to blame someone else as many of us do. He’s not trying to put someone else down in order to lift himself up.
We should all be like that. We should be man or woman enough to say, “I did it.” “It’s my fault.” “I’m the culprit.” “I’m the guilty party. You see, there’s hope for us when we’re willing to take responsibility for our own actions and deeds. There’s hope for us when begin to stop pointing fingers at someone else’s sin.
Nonetheless, our psalmist has a conscience. And his conscience is forcing him to own up to what he’s done. His conscience is forcing him to say, “My sins.” My transgressions.” “My mistakes.”
You see, there’s hope for us when our conscience still convicts us when we’ve done wrong. There’s hope for us when our conscience bothers us when we’ve committed a misdeed. Unfortunately though, there are those who have no conscience and they’re the ones we should keep an eye on.
We need to keep an eye on persons who can do anything and everything and feel absolutely no remorse. We need beware of those who think they can mistreat others and get away with it.
Nevertheless, when the Lord has touched our lives we become convicted of our wrongdoings. We can’t sleep at night. We become like David, plagued by the shackles of our own sins.
Had he lived today his business would be everywhere. It would be highlighted on the 5 & 6 o’clock news. It would be flashed all over the newspapers for his enemies to see. Can you imagine having your defects and shortcomings exposed so the world can see?
How would you feel if your business, your sin, your indiscretion was laid out for everyone to scrutinize? How would you feel if something you’re ashamed of were public knowledge?
Sin is a funny thing. It seems OK when we’ve done whatever we’ve done or when we’re doing whatever we’re doing. Yet, the Bible says that whatever is done in the dark will come out in the light. And when it comes out in the light you’d better look out. Folk’s blood pressure goes up. They have heart attacks. And still others commit suicide.
Nonetheless, David is now remorseful. While his business didn’t make the news stand, there were at least four persons who knew about it. Nathan the prophet knew about it. We know because he went to David with four little words, “You are the man.” “You are the man that took advantage of poor Uriah the Hittite.
In any event, you’d better be careful Somebody about who knows your business. You’d better be careful about who you tell your business to. Your enemies will take whatever you’ve done to lift themselves up and to bring you down. You’d better stop telling all your business on your job. You just might not ever get promoted. You may even get fired.
Now, the second person whom we’re sure knew David’s business was Bathsheba. She knew because she and David were partners in crime. Let’s not be hard on her now because turning down the king in those days was a life or death situation.
Finally, we can be absolutely certain that David and the Lord knew what David had done. You see we can’t fool God. No matter what we do, No matter with whom we do it, where we go or who goes with us God knows.
You see, the God we serve is omnipotent. The God we serve is omniscient, and the God we serve is omnipresent. That means the God we serve is all powerful, all knowing, and present everywhere. The God we serve is in the boardroom as well as the dope room. The God we serve is in the street as well as in the alley. The God we serve is in the clubhouse as well as the club. The God we serve is in the rich neighborhoods as well as the ghettos. The God we serve is in the church as well as in the bar.
In other words, God is everywhere at the same time in the same instance, and in the split of a second. Nevertheless, I stopped by to tell you somebody that if we’re shackled by some sin or transgression there’s hope for us.
The God we serve is able to deliver us from the sins that plague our lives. The God we serve is able to pick us up, dust us off, and clean us white as snow.
David in our text knows all about that. You see, when his conscience got the best of him he decided to take it to the Lord in prayer.
I don’t know whether he went to the temple to pray or went to a closet. But what I do know is that when David was down he prayed for the Lord to lift him up. He told God all about his shortcomings and he told God all about his many faults. He pled with the Lord for mercy for his sin sick soul.
We need to pray Somebody when we’ve fallen short of the glory of God. We need to pray when we can’t sleep at night because of something we’ve done. We need to pray when our sins are out of sight but not out of mind. We need to pray when we don’t know which way is up or which way is down. We need to pray for God to unshackle us from the chains that bind us to a sin sick world. Then one day we’ll be able to say, “the shackles have been taken away.”
