The Shackles Have Been Taken Away

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.’