Psalm 31: 9-10, Ps 38:1-5. "Because
of my iniquity…because of my foolishness"
David acknowledged his sin
and accepted responsibility for the disciplinary consequences of ignoring God's word.
If you have never accepted responsibility
for any of the relational conflicts in your life, if you have never apologized
for anything or asked anyone for forgiveness, I will have to assume you are
self-righteous, arrogant person and you have never really seen yourself. David knew his adversaries were accusing him
falsely, but he did not pretend to be innocent and allow God to be blamed or
charged with injustice for the troubles he faced.
How many times have we gotten
what we deserved while letting God be blamed for allowing the "sweet
thing" to suffer? If a man's secret
sin causes him to fail and lose everything, while he "goes down"
blaming Satan and people, others will look at him and say, "How could God
let this happen to such a good man?" His failure to confess and admit his
own responsibility might cause his children and those who observe his troubles
to subconsciously think that Satan can arbitrarily destroy whomever he pleases,
and that God is either helpless or unfaithful in allowing it to happen. David,
however, was able to acknowledge his sin and his foolishness. He humbled
himself; he did not blame God.
“The foolishness of a man
perverts his way, and then he blames God.” Proverbs 19:3.
Psalm 39: 9-11 "because it was you..."
David
recognized it was God's hand being laid upon him as result of his own sin and
need for discipline. David knew it was from the Lord. He had listened to
Nathan's word regarding the disciplinary consequences that would come (2 Samuel
12:7-15) and, therefore, did not blame others. David was forgiven and restored,
but still had to face the “rod” of discipline.
A
rebellious heart will often fail to associate the rod of discipline with the
sin that precipitated it. On the surface there may appear to be no connection
between the adversaries who rise up against us and the offense that caused God
to send them. An adversary raised up in one quarter may be the rod of judgment
for an offense committed in another area unrelated to the issue upon which the
adversary is focused.
For
instance, while a man may be falsely accused of some immorality that he did not
do and suffer unjustly because of it, he may, in reality, be under God's
discipline for some other sin completely unknown even to his detractors. The adversary may be mistaken or accusing
falsely, but God may still be using him as the rod of correction. Shemei and
Absalom in their rebellion accused David falsely. David was innocent of their
charges against him, but he was not innocent before God.
A
rebellious heart will make the presumption that "Since I am innocent of
these false charges, I am therefore innocent, period." Consequently, this
person will resist God's discipline instead of surrendering before God and
committing himself into the hands of God who is not only a merciful Father but
also the Righteous Judge. We must be careful lest in fighting “Shemei” we find
ourselves fighting God.
The
one noble thing about the Philistines (in 1 Samuel 6: 1-6) is that they recognized and
acknowledged that their judgment was from God. Placing the golden mice and golden
hemorrhoids on the cart was their way of acknowledging the hand of
God that was against them. This is more than we can say of this present
generation which seems prepared to drink a bitter cup and rationalize its
plagues as only natural phenomena.
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