Psalm 51:12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit.
This week the Author makes a very good point. When God starts to rebuild our lives, He must first remove the older structures of our lives in order that a brand spanking new building can be built. He points out that God doesn’t use a wrecking ball and just demolish the old structures with one fell swoop. No he use smaller tools and dismantles the structure piece by piece and He takes His time to make sure the job is done correctly.
The author opens with verse Psalm 51:12 but I think a much more fitting scripture comes from Deuteronomy 7:22:
"The LORD your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, for the wild beasts would grow too numerous for you.
When I was a young man in college I hired on with an excavation company in Liberty Indiana to help tear down a building that was over 100 years old. It was built in the 1860’s and was being torn down. (I might add that my Dad wryly commented “That’s a good job for you … right up your alley!”) I thought it would be easy and fun. It wasn’t. It was some of the hardest and most dangerous work I’d ever done. I had to sign a paper that released them of all responsibilities in case of my sudden demise and if I found anything of value, it was their property. (I did find a cap and ball revolver with real confederate money behind one of walls!)
As I related this weeks lesson to my life I could see a strong parallel between how God has worked in my life and how I’ve grown through the process.
First of all I signed a release to my life when I signed on as a Christian. My life is not my own, but God’s. ("I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Gal 2:20). This means for me to die is gain and to live is Christ (Phil 1:21). Being killed while tearing down a building wasn’t something I worried about when I was 22. When God starts removing structures in my life that need to be demolished, it feels like I’m going to die sometimes, but I no longer worry about it. Let God be God and I will be the benefactor. And even though I can’t see what is coming, I can trust that it will be better than what was there before.
The second part of this I find interesting is that there was value found hidden in the old building. Much to my dad’s chagrin, I filled the entire trunk of my 64 Oldsmobile with things my Mom thought were “precious”. I can tell you this, by looking at the old hotel and the wreckage of the building, it’s hard to see anything of value in there. Isn’t that how God sees our lives and the lives of others? Other people may look at your life and see a wreck. You may look at your life and see a wreck. But God doesn’t. He sees things in your life of value and it’s only through the tearing down of the old that the things of value can be seen.
It’s interesting that while the tearing down and removal of the building took only a few weeks at most, the tearing down and rebuilding of a life takes a lifetime. Deuteronomy 7:22 tells us God respects our emotional and physiological make up because he doesn’t do it all at once. He takes time and does it slowly but surely. He takes the things in our life that are broken, barren or overrun with weeds, and he fixes, rebuilds or plants new and vital structures so our lives can reflect His and so we can become more Christ like every day.
Oh Lord: Help me to not get nervous or worried when I see some structure in my life you haven’t worked on yet. Sometimes your work in removing one thing exposes something else that needs to be removed as well. Help me to understand the process. It doesn’t happen all at once and I shouldn’t expect it to. Help me to realize you love me when I see things that have yet to be torn down or fixed.
Thanks Lord … I appreciate you!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Just what did God do when I got saved?
This week the author launches into an area I’m not qualified to discuss. He speaks of sin as it relates to small children. When I read this, I wondered what I would say since anything I say in this area carries no weight. So I prayed and read it again and I began to see some things that have been rolling around inside me for many moons. Let me explain.
When the author refers to small people and their innate ability to demand their own way I began to think of the relationship I have with sin. I got saved at 16 years old (That would be July 1968 in case you wondered) while sitting in a very hot chapel in a school that is described as “a controlled disciplinary environment”). I got baptized in the Holy Spirit 10 years later. But over the years I’ve found that I still voluntarily do things that are not Godly. I find I want to do things that are sinful and (to make matters worse) I then go out and do them. So there is nothing new in this pattern. It’s been going on for a long time. So rather than rehash years worth of sinful, stupid events in my life, let me cut to the chase.
What did God actually do when I got saved?
That’s the question I have. Second Corinthians tells us this:
2 Cor 5:16-17 Consequently, from now on we estimate {and} regard no one from a [purely] human point of view [in terms of natural standards of value]. [No] even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint {and} as a man, yet now [we have such knowledge of Him that] we know Him no longer [in terms of the flesh]. Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh {and} new has come!
Please note, the old previous moral and spiritual condition has passed away. So if that is true (and it is) then I am missing an important piece of information that will help me function correctly as a Christian. I don’t know what actually passed away and what to do with what remains.
It appears to me, that since I am a spirit and I live in a body and I have a soul (mind and intellect) then what Paul is talking about here is my Spirit. God gives me a new spirit that is fashioned after Christ, with desires for Christ and God. The old spirit is gone. So my spirit is a new creature.
Now comes the true battle, the one with the rest of me. I think if we follow Paul’s writings in the order they were written, we can see an interesting pattern. Lets look at 3 sets of books, Corinthians, Romans and Philippians. They were written in that order. I’ll take 4 sets of Scripture and summarize them in the order Paul wrote them.
1. We are a new creature (2 Cor 5:17)
2. Paul Wrestled with a thorn in the flesh (2 Cor 12:7)
3. Paul wrote in Romans 7 that he did things he didn’t want to do, but identified sin as the source of the problem, NOT PAUL.
4. God will finish in us what he started (Phil 1:6)
Here is what I see happened in Paul’s life. He recognized he was a new creature when he got born again. He started wrestling with his flesh and sin in 2 Cor 12. He realized in Romans 7 he was fighting something he could not beat by himself. Then in Phil 1 he relies on God to bring him through to the end.
This is a high level view of Paul’s life and perhaps from a different perspective than you’ve looked at it before. If you dig into this a little deeper, you will immediately run into Romans 8. There is a way out of the sin cycle in this life. It’s not easy and if you fight addictions and repeated failures in overcoming sin it seems like there is no way out. But God clearly tells us there is a way to overcome. I struggle mightily when I try to overcome and fail. That’s when I need to rest on God’s grace and mercy and those that God has placed in my life as traveling companions.
Now in order to bring this to conclusion, let me come back to the author. He is coming at this book from a Calvinist point of view. I don’t share that view. Much of this chapter sounds like it is rooted in the Calvinist definition of “depravity”. I don’t ascribe to their definition of the depravity of man. I do know that man is clearly born into sin and that we need a savior to deliver us from the bondage of sin. I have placed my trust in that savior. I believe Peter when he says God has no desire that anyone should perish. So the main question I’ve asked is what did God do when I got saved? I’m going to write what I think happened. I may not have it all correct, but here is what I think happened.
I think God gave me a new spirit and the Holy Spirit to help me manage life until I either go home to be with the Lord or He comes back. I’m going to have success’s and failures, but I can rest assured that He will accomplish in me that which he intended all along!
When the author refers to small people and their innate ability to demand their own way I began to think of the relationship I have with sin. I got saved at 16 years old (That would be July 1968 in case you wondered) while sitting in a very hot chapel in a school that is described as “a controlled disciplinary environment”). I got baptized in the Holy Spirit 10 years later. But over the years I’ve found that I still voluntarily do things that are not Godly. I find I want to do things that are sinful and (to make matters worse) I then go out and do them. So there is nothing new in this pattern. It’s been going on for a long time. So rather than rehash years worth of sinful, stupid events in my life, let me cut to the chase.
What did God actually do when I got saved?
That’s the question I have. Second Corinthians tells us this:
2 Cor 5:16-17 Consequently, from now on we estimate {and} regard no one from a [purely] human point of view [in terms of natural standards of value]. [No] even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint {and} as a man, yet now [we have such knowledge of Him that] we know Him no longer [in terms of the flesh]. Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh {and} new has come!
Please note, the old previous moral and spiritual condition has passed away. So if that is true (and it is) then I am missing an important piece of information that will help me function correctly as a Christian. I don’t know what actually passed away and what to do with what remains.
It appears to me, that since I am a spirit and I live in a body and I have a soul (mind and intellect) then what Paul is talking about here is my Spirit. God gives me a new spirit that is fashioned after Christ, with desires for Christ and God. The old spirit is gone. So my spirit is a new creature.
Now comes the true battle, the one with the rest of me. I think if we follow Paul’s writings in the order they were written, we can see an interesting pattern. Lets look at 3 sets of books, Corinthians, Romans and Philippians. They were written in that order. I’ll take 4 sets of Scripture and summarize them in the order Paul wrote them.
1. We are a new creature (2 Cor 5:17)
2. Paul Wrestled with a thorn in the flesh (2 Cor 12:7)
3. Paul wrote in Romans 7 that he did things he didn’t want to do, but identified sin as the source of the problem, NOT PAUL.
4. God will finish in us what he started (Phil 1:6)
Here is what I see happened in Paul’s life. He recognized he was a new creature when he got born again. He started wrestling with his flesh and sin in 2 Cor 12. He realized in Romans 7 he was fighting something he could not beat by himself. Then in Phil 1 he relies on God to bring him through to the end.
This is a high level view of Paul’s life and perhaps from a different perspective than you’ve looked at it before. If you dig into this a little deeper, you will immediately run into Romans 8. There is a way out of the sin cycle in this life. It’s not easy and if you fight addictions and repeated failures in overcoming sin it seems like there is no way out. But God clearly tells us there is a way to overcome. I struggle mightily when I try to overcome and fail. That’s when I need to rest on God’s grace and mercy and those that God has placed in my life as traveling companions.
Now in order to bring this to conclusion, let me come back to the author. He is coming at this book from a Calvinist point of view. I don’t share that view. Much of this chapter sounds like it is rooted in the Calvinist definition of “depravity”. I don’t ascribe to their definition of the depravity of man. I do know that man is clearly born into sin and that we need a savior to deliver us from the bondage of sin. I have placed my trust in that savior. I believe Peter when he says God has no desire that anyone should perish. So the main question I’ve asked is what did God do when I got saved? I’m going to write what I think happened. I may not have it all correct, but here is what I think happened.
I think God gave me a new spirit and the Holy Spirit to help me manage life until I either go home to be with the Lord or He comes back. I’m going to have success’s and failures, but I can rest assured that He will accomplish in me that which he intended all along!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Then I will Teach Transgressors your ways ....
Ps 51:12-13 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then will I teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted {and} return to You.
This week the writer talks about an interesting subject. I’ve read this several times just to make sure I understand what he is talking about. His point is that God will use the brokenness of our lives to teach others about His grace.
I must confess something to you. I’ve written this blog before and then torn it up. The first time I wrote was raw emotion. I wrote it out of a sense of frustration and fear. Frustration because I can’t fix the things that are wrong in my life. Beverly spoke of this very eloquently when she told of her inability to stop worrying about her kids. She said something to the effect “I simply can’t stop Lord and if you don’t help me, I won’t be able to quit.” That was what I took away from the class concerning the kids. Roque then commented it doesn’t get any better or easier when you are in your late 80’s. I laughed heartily but I’ve had time to think through the conversation they had and I can learn something from it.
Roque is like the apostle Paul in this sense. Both look back at lives that were full of mistakes and yet they don’t speak of the mistakes and the pain, they both speak of God’s rich grace and love. I think Roque gets it. I think Paul got it. I think Andy needs to get it.
As I told you about the first draft of this week’s blog, it was written out of frustration and fear. Frustration that I can’t fix the things I want to fix. Fear because I don’t want people to learn about me what I know about me. That terrifies me. So I do everything in my power to “avoid” detection. What’s interesting about this fact is I’m not afraid for people to learn about “me”. I’m deeply ashamed of what I know about me. It’s this deep and pervasive sense of shame that drives my actions on many occasions.
What I just told you lays the foundation for my response to the author this week. I don’t think I can “teach” anyone about some of these issues until I’ve been successful in overcoming them. If you want to learn how to win super bowls, you don’t go to the Falcons and ask them. You go to a team like New England, who has had success and won. They’ve both tasted defeat, but only New England has actually won a super bowl. So if I want to know how to win, I go to New England, not Atlanta.
I apply this to my life. I see my life in the same sense. I can’t teach anyone how to be an overcomer if I can’t “overcome” the problems I face daily. Mind you, I’m not saying I haven’t made progress, I have. But I don’t see myself as an “overcomer” until I “overcome” the issues I face and until I do overcome, I don’t see how I can be an effective “teacher”.
Let me be clear about one thing. I’m not saying I have to be perfect. Far from it. I am saying I need to see some successful “overcoming” before I can be a helpful teacher to someone else. If I’m wrong, I don’t see where. It makes sense to me.
If I’m going to be able to be an effective teacher of God’s grace, I need to be able to look someone in the eye and say to them, “I’ve overcome that with the Lord’s help, and here’s how.” I can’t look someone in the face and say, “Yes I know your struggles. I have them too, and I don’t have a clue how to help you because I’m stuck in the same “slough of despond” and can’t get out.” The former statement is helpful. The latter is not.
As I finish my thoughts this week I need to tell you what happened yesterday. Julia and I were on our way to the council meeting. I needed to drop some mail so we thought we would eat next door at “My Pie”. We’d never eaten there before, so we thought we would try it. After we ordered, we started to sit down and saw Ms. Becky sitting at a table grading papers. There was a young man with her and when she saw us, she invited us to sit with them. She cleared her papers and we sat down. As we started talking she asked us to share how we met and how we got saved. We did and after we finished, we had to hurry to get to the meeting. It dawned on me that this “chance” meeting was in line with this week’s lesson. Sharing my testimony is something I can do with ease. I don’t have a problem with that. It’s the teaching part I struggle with. Perhaps I’m splitting hairs here. But sharing my testimony is one thing. Teaching someone how to overcome is different. I can share my testimony with ease. I can’t tell you how to overcome in certain areas because I haven’t been successful in that area.
As you can tell from my discussion this is a difficult area for me. Perhaps it shouldn’t be, but it is. Last night’s meeting with Becky was ordained. I sensed God’s hand in immediately. I sensed also that the meeting was for my benefit. It was to let me know God knows my address and that he can use my life story if I will let Him. There is much work to do but there has been much that has already been accomplished. I need to just rest in the knowledge that when it’s all said and done for Andy Hines, that God will have accomplished what He wanted to accomplish. It’s based on what He can do, not what I can do.
Lord, Please let me rest in your grace. I find myself in constant agitation because I’m not farther along the path than I am. I constantly worry that there is something else I need to do. I simply can’t imagine a scenario where you are pleased with my efforts. Please give me peace to know you are pleased with me. I need that desperately.
This week the writer talks about an interesting subject. I’ve read this several times just to make sure I understand what he is talking about. His point is that God will use the brokenness of our lives to teach others about His grace.
I must confess something to you. I’ve written this blog before and then torn it up. The first time I wrote was raw emotion. I wrote it out of a sense of frustration and fear. Frustration because I can’t fix the things that are wrong in my life. Beverly spoke of this very eloquently when she told of her inability to stop worrying about her kids. She said something to the effect “I simply can’t stop Lord and if you don’t help me, I won’t be able to quit.” That was what I took away from the class concerning the kids. Roque then commented it doesn’t get any better or easier when you are in your late 80’s. I laughed heartily but I’ve had time to think through the conversation they had and I can learn something from it.
Roque is like the apostle Paul in this sense. Both look back at lives that were full of mistakes and yet they don’t speak of the mistakes and the pain, they both speak of God’s rich grace and love. I think Roque gets it. I think Paul got it. I think Andy needs to get it.
As I told you about the first draft of this week’s blog, it was written out of frustration and fear. Frustration that I can’t fix the things I want to fix. Fear because I don’t want people to learn about me what I know about me. That terrifies me. So I do everything in my power to “avoid” detection. What’s interesting about this fact is I’m not afraid for people to learn about “me”. I’m deeply ashamed of what I know about me. It’s this deep and pervasive sense of shame that drives my actions on many occasions.
What I just told you lays the foundation for my response to the author this week. I don’t think I can “teach” anyone about some of these issues until I’ve been successful in overcoming them. If you want to learn how to win super bowls, you don’t go to the Falcons and ask them. You go to a team like New England, who has had success and won. They’ve both tasted defeat, but only New England has actually won a super bowl. So if I want to know how to win, I go to New England, not Atlanta.
I apply this to my life. I see my life in the same sense. I can’t teach anyone how to be an overcomer if I can’t “overcome” the problems I face daily. Mind you, I’m not saying I haven’t made progress, I have. But I don’t see myself as an “overcomer” until I “overcome” the issues I face and until I do overcome, I don’t see how I can be an effective “teacher”.
Let me be clear about one thing. I’m not saying I have to be perfect. Far from it. I am saying I need to see some successful “overcoming” before I can be a helpful teacher to someone else. If I’m wrong, I don’t see where. It makes sense to me.
If I’m going to be able to be an effective teacher of God’s grace, I need to be able to look someone in the eye and say to them, “I’ve overcome that with the Lord’s help, and here’s how.” I can’t look someone in the face and say, “Yes I know your struggles. I have them too, and I don’t have a clue how to help you because I’m stuck in the same “slough of despond” and can’t get out.” The former statement is helpful. The latter is not.
As I finish my thoughts this week I need to tell you what happened yesterday. Julia and I were on our way to the council meeting. I needed to drop some mail so we thought we would eat next door at “My Pie”. We’d never eaten there before, so we thought we would try it. After we ordered, we started to sit down and saw Ms. Becky sitting at a table grading papers. There was a young man with her and when she saw us, she invited us to sit with them. She cleared her papers and we sat down. As we started talking she asked us to share how we met and how we got saved. We did and after we finished, we had to hurry to get to the meeting. It dawned on me that this “chance” meeting was in line with this week’s lesson. Sharing my testimony is something I can do with ease. I don’t have a problem with that. It’s the teaching part I struggle with. Perhaps I’m splitting hairs here. But sharing my testimony is one thing. Teaching someone how to overcome is different. I can share my testimony with ease. I can’t tell you how to overcome in certain areas because I haven’t been successful in that area.
As you can tell from my discussion this is a difficult area for me. Perhaps it shouldn’t be, but it is. Last night’s meeting with Becky was ordained. I sensed God’s hand in immediately. I sensed also that the meeting was for my benefit. It was to let me know God knows my address and that he can use my life story if I will let Him. There is much work to do but there has been much that has already been accomplished. I need to just rest in the knowledge that when it’s all said and done for Andy Hines, that God will have accomplished what He wanted to accomplish. It’s based on what He can do, not what I can do.
Lord, Please let me rest in your grace. I find myself in constant agitation because I’m not farther along the path than I am. I constantly worry that there is something else I need to do. I simply can’t imagine a scenario where you are pleased with my efforts. Please give me peace to know you are pleased with me. I need that desperately.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Create in me a clean heart oh Lord ....
Psalm 51:10 NLT Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.
This week the author looks at David’s propensity for sexual compromise. He gives us a rather graphic picture of a “dirty” heart. While it would be easy enough to concentrate on the sexual immorality of David’s sin, I see this from a bit different perspective.
When I first read this week’s lesson, I thought, “Oh no. Lord, how do I deal with this?” Then I received a vision, and I smiled, because of what the Lord reminded me.
Just before Julia and I were married I had a good friend who spent time in combat in Vietnam. After he returned home he was looking for work. A new donut store opened in town and they hired Dale. He was so happy because Dale LOVED donuts. The first day on the job, they told him he could eat as many as he wanted as often as he wanted. They didn’t care. He was in heaven on his first day at the job. Then I saw him barely a week later and asked him how the job was going. He told me he never wanted to see a donut again. He did eat all he wanted and he got so tired of donuts, he quit the job.
I tell you this because of the parallel I see with David. Second Samuel 12 tells of Nathan’s confrontation with David. Nathan give this message to David from the Lord in verse 8:
I gave you your master’s house, and put your master’s wives into your arms. I also gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all that somehow seems insignificant, I would have given you so much more as well!
This amazing verse seems very clear to me. God gave David everything he could want (including women) and if he needed more, the clear indication is all he had to do was ask. This is the point I want to look at. David could have had all the women he wanted, when he wanted them. What more could any man ask for???? Well …….
Like my friend Dale with the donuts, David was unable to maintain a gluttonous pace with women. When I look at both men, I see a problem. One I haven’t been able to successfully work through myself. The problem?
There is an itch deep within my soul I am unable to scratch with anything even though I try everything. In addition, I don’t know HOW to let God into my life such that He can scratch it for me!
Dale and David both showed that you can’t satisfy your desires no matter how much of the desired item you have. Donuts, women, booze, drugs, electronic things, golf, whatever it is.
I am not a counselor, but it appears to me that the attempts to do exactly as Dale and David tried to do leads to addictions. In today’s world, we have an addiction for everything. I understand addictions. Like Dale and David, I struggle with the attempt to fill the hole with things other than God. Others have described the hole as a God sized vacuum that only God can fill. I understand that. I understand addictions. I also understand that you will NEVER get addictions under control if YOU keep trying to fill the hole with stuff. You battle alcohol and quit drinking. Now you are doing drugs. You begin to deal with that and sexual addictions become a problem. You abstain and compulsive purchases become a problem. There is NO END to the misery of your own effort. I speak from experience. The scriptures speak clearly to this very issue in Isaiah 50:10-11 (NET Bible http://net.bible.org/home.php)
Who among you fears the Lord? Who obeys his servant? Whoever walks in deep darkness, without light, should trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. Look, all of you who start a fire and who equip yourselves with flaming arrows, walk in the light of the fire you started and among the flaming arrows you ignited! This is what you will receive from me: you will lie down in a place of pain.
Here is the Andy version of these scriptures:
Are you a Christian who loves God yet struggles and you don’t know why? Trust God to show you, but DON’T try to fill the hole in your life with stuff or it will cause you deep pain and frustration!
Now that is how I read this scripture and that is how I see David’s situation. His request for a clean heart makes perfect sense to me. He recognizes the wickedness he is capable of doing, yet seemingly unable to stop. He asks God to do for him what he can’t do yet wants desperately.
I understand his thinking here. I see in me things I hate yet I don’t have the ability to “fix” them.
I want to close with this final thought. Even though I see the things in my life I don’t like, I am not despairing about them. I used to, but not today. These things haven’t caught God off guard, only me. He knew about them long before I did and while I can’t see the end results, He does and His assurance that everything will be ok with me one day is of great comfort to me.
My hope and prayer is that you too may experience that great assurance if you find your self in the same position David and I have.
This week the author looks at David’s propensity for sexual compromise. He gives us a rather graphic picture of a “dirty” heart. While it would be easy enough to concentrate on the sexual immorality of David’s sin, I see this from a bit different perspective.
When I first read this week’s lesson, I thought, “Oh no. Lord, how do I deal with this?” Then I received a vision, and I smiled, because of what the Lord reminded me.
Just before Julia and I were married I had a good friend who spent time in combat in Vietnam. After he returned home he was looking for work. A new donut store opened in town and they hired Dale. He was so happy because Dale LOVED donuts. The first day on the job, they told him he could eat as many as he wanted as often as he wanted. They didn’t care. He was in heaven on his first day at the job. Then I saw him barely a week later and asked him how the job was going. He told me he never wanted to see a donut again. He did eat all he wanted and he got so tired of donuts, he quit the job.
I tell you this because of the parallel I see with David. Second Samuel 12 tells of Nathan’s confrontation with David. Nathan give this message to David from the Lord in verse 8:
I gave you your master’s house, and put your master’s wives into your arms. I also gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all that somehow seems insignificant, I would have given you so much more as well!
This amazing verse seems very clear to me. God gave David everything he could want (including women) and if he needed more, the clear indication is all he had to do was ask. This is the point I want to look at. David could have had all the women he wanted, when he wanted them. What more could any man ask for???? Well …….
Like my friend Dale with the donuts, David was unable to maintain a gluttonous pace with women. When I look at both men, I see a problem. One I haven’t been able to successfully work through myself. The problem?
There is an itch deep within my soul I am unable to scratch with anything even though I try everything. In addition, I don’t know HOW to let God into my life such that He can scratch it for me!
Dale and David both showed that you can’t satisfy your desires no matter how much of the desired item you have. Donuts, women, booze, drugs, electronic things, golf, whatever it is.
I am not a counselor, but it appears to me that the attempts to do exactly as Dale and David tried to do leads to addictions. In today’s world, we have an addiction for everything. I understand addictions. Like Dale and David, I struggle with the attempt to fill the hole with things other than God. Others have described the hole as a God sized vacuum that only God can fill. I understand that. I understand addictions. I also understand that you will NEVER get addictions under control if YOU keep trying to fill the hole with stuff. You battle alcohol and quit drinking. Now you are doing drugs. You begin to deal with that and sexual addictions become a problem. You abstain and compulsive purchases become a problem. There is NO END to the misery of your own effort. I speak from experience. The scriptures speak clearly to this very issue in Isaiah 50:10-11 (NET Bible http://net.bible.org/home.php)
Who among you fears the Lord? Who obeys his servant? Whoever walks in deep darkness, without light, should trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. Look, all of you who start a fire and who equip yourselves with flaming arrows, walk in the light of the fire you started and among the flaming arrows you ignited! This is what you will receive from me: you will lie down in a place of pain.
Here is the Andy version of these scriptures:
Are you a Christian who loves God yet struggles and you don’t know why? Trust God to show you, but DON’T try to fill the hole in your life with stuff or it will cause you deep pain and frustration!
Now that is how I read this scripture and that is how I see David’s situation. His request for a clean heart makes perfect sense to me. He recognizes the wickedness he is capable of doing, yet seemingly unable to stop. He asks God to do for him what he can’t do yet wants desperately.
I understand his thinking here. I see in me things I hate yet I don’t have the ability to “fix” them.
I want to close with this final thought. Even though I see the things in my life I don’t like, I am not despairing about them. I used to, but not today. These things haven’t caught God off guard, only me. He knew about them long before I did and while I can’t see the end results, He does and His assurance that everything will be ok with me one day is of great comfort to me.
My hope and prayer is that you too may experience that great assurance if you find your self in the same position David and I have.
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