Psalm
32
“For day and night thy hand was heavy
upon me: My moisture was changed [as] with the drought of summer. [Selah]” – Psalm 32:4
I
have read with some concern but more often amusement at the proliferation of
articles in the news lately about the drought happening in California.
The concern stems from the fact that I live in the state and often
ponder how water restrictions may affect me; the amusement stemming from the
many ideas being floated around or actually being implemented to help alleviate
the situation, such as desalination plants and shipping water into California from Oregon
and Washington. Mankind does not like to deal with uncertainty
and will strive to find ways to control what they often cannot control.
There
have been times of drought throughout the ages and mankind has survived them,
but that does not mean that we are comfortable with or enjoy them. Just as there are physical droughts, there are
spiritual droughts.
Some
spiritual droughts are caused by the Lord.
He sends a sense of dryness to drive us closer to Him to find refreshing
for our souls. I heard one pastor teach
that when things seem dry spiritually then just keep doing what you know to do: keep reading in God’s Word, keep fellow-shipping with other believers, continue in regular prayer, and God will
send refreshing in perfect time.
Most
spiritual droughts are caused by sin and we can bring them upon ourselves when we
sin (Psalm 68:6; Jeremiah 50:38). So how
do we get out of these spiritual droughts?
In
Matthew Henry’s commentary regarding Psalm 32 he reflects on the fact that
mankind tends to keep silent regarding sin.
Man likes to hide his sins from himself and tries not to even think
about them by diverting his mind to something else, like something he wants to
do, somewhere he wants to go, or some project he wants to complete. He states that mankind chooses to “…pine away
in their iniquities than to take the method which God has appointed of finding
rest for their souls. Let such expect that their smothered convictions will be
a fire in their bones, and the wounds of sin, not opened, will fester, and grow
intolerably painful. If conscience be seared, the case is so much the more
dangerous; but if it be startled and awake, it will be heard. The hand of divine
wrath will be felt lying heavily upon the soul, and the anguish of the spirit
will affect the body; to the degree David experienced it, so that when he was
young his bones waxed old; and even his silence made him roar all the day long,
as if he had been under some grievous pain and distemper of body, when really
the cause of all his uneasiness was the struggle he felt in his own bosom
between his convictions and his corruptions.”
Ignoring
spiritual droughts caused by sin will not make them go away so God has provided
a way for us to come out of them. We are
taught to declare our sins to God and ask for His forgiveness. This is what David did in verse 5a (AMP):
“I acknowledged my sin to You, and my
iniquity I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord
[continually unfolding the past till all is told]…”
Matthew
Henry says of this verse that, “Those that would have the comfort of the pardon
of their sins must take shame to themselves by a penitent confession of them.
We must confess the fact of sin, and be particular in it (Thus and thus have I
done), confess the fault of sin, aggravate it, and lay a load upon ourselves
for it (I have done very wickedly), confess the justice of the punishment we
have been under for it (The Lord is just in all that is brought upon us), and
that we deserve much worse—I am no more worthy to be called thy son. We must
confess sin with shame and holy blushing, with fear and holy trembling.”
True
confession and repentance is more than just a set of words, “I sinned God,
forgive me.” True confession and
repentance is telling God that we know and acknowledge how evil and shameful
what we did is and that we choose to walk another way and never do it again. One thing I learned while at Mission School was that we (mankind) tend to
tell God what to do when we ask forgiveness of Him. If we are truly honest with ourselves we find
that the simple, “I sinned God, forgive me,” is not really a request. It is a command. Who am I to command God?!
True
confession draws itself from our inner hearts as we fully see the evil we did
and want to be cleansed from it. Our
hearts cry out to God to free us from this thing (sin) which has enslaved us
and parched our souls to spiritual drought.
When we do this then God hears our cry and His response is immediate:
“…—then You [instantly] forgave me the guilt and iniquity of my sin. Selah
[pause, and calmly think of that]!”
(Verse 5b AMP)
I
love how Matthew Henry comments on this:
“Concerning God’s readiness to pardon sin to those who truly repent of
it: "I said, I will confess (I sincerely resolved upon it, hesitated no
longer, but came to a point, that I would make a free and ingenuous confession
of my sins) and immediately thou
forgavest the iniquity of my sin, and gavest me the comfort of the pardon in my
own conscience; immediately I found
rest to my soul.’’ (Italic emphasis is
mine.)
How
wonderful to know that spiritual drought caused by sin can end so quickly. Are you in a spiritual drought today? Take a moment right now and seek God out. If it is a drought to draw you closer to Him
then as you draw near through the Word, fellowship with believers, and prayer
you will find refreshing again.
If
it is a sinful drought consider one more note from Matthew Henry’s commentary
on Psalm 35: “…God is more ready to
pardon sin, upon our repentance, than we are to repent in order to the
obtaining of pardon. It was with much ado that David was here brought to
confess his sins; he was put to the rack before he was brought to do it.” Do not be like David and keep putting it
off. Confess and repent right now to
obtain your immediate relief.
“And the
Lord shall guide you continually and satisfy you in drought and in dry places and make strong
your bones. And you shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water
whose waters fail not.” –
Isaiah 58:11 AMP
