Bible: 5 Poetic Books

Lesson 4: The Book of Psalms, part two: Passionate, but not Positive!

Guilt

Guilt can eat you alive if you live with it, unresolved. Even the best followers of God are capable of sin, and David, the psalmist is an example.

David was a fantastic role model of what a man of God should be like...until he saw Bathsheba. His adultery even led him to murder Bathsheba's husband, in an attempt to cover up his transgression.

In Psalm 51, you hear his outpouring of his heart as an expression of the guilt he has felt over the incident:

1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

[Guilt makes a person feel "dirty", in need of God's cleansing power.]

3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.

[If you do not confess your sin and turn away from sin, it will always be there, in the back of your mind, haunting you...]

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. 5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. 6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts ; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

[We all have that inner voice, that conscience that tells us what is right and wrong. One of God's greatest gifts was giving us the ability to choose for ourselves. Choose to do what is right.]

7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.

[Again, God can wipe the slate clean, and give us a fresh start!]

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

[David is all too aware of what he stands to lose if God rejects him for his sin.]

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. 14 Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. 15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.

[David seeks to repent and do something positive--be a good role model to others and teach them the evils of acts like his and Bathsheba's. If we repent and seek to make a positive change, that is what God wants. He would rather see us make good choices and get rid of our guilt than to carry the burden of guilt with us for the rest of our lives.]

16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 17 The sacrifices of God are [3] a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

[God doesn't want "stuff". He wants us to enter into a relationship with him and to strive to be more and more like him. He would much rather praise us for our positive contributions than punish us for our transgressions, but make no mistake--he will do both, as needed!]

It's tough to get positive and praise God when you are constantly feeling guilty for some behavior you are not proud of. Get rid of the guilt first, through God, and then, seek to make a positive contribution to others, just like David did. Your soul will thank you.

Feeling guilty about something? Guilt is an acid--it eats away at you. Use that image in a poem of your own, if you choose, or--better yet--create a better one!

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