Thought for July 26th. ‘I HAVE SINNED AGAINST THE LORD’

As God sees our lives all wrongdoing is against him. Are we sufficiently aware of his oversight of our lives?  Paul became dramatically aware and was to write,  “None of us lives to himself … whether we live or whether we die we are the Lord’s” [Rom. 14, v.7,8].  Therefore, as we read today of David being confronted by the prophet Nathan, whom God had sent to him to make him conscious of the terrible reality of his sin of adultery with Bathsheba and in arranging the death of her husband, the “eyes” of David’s mind are suddenly opened and he said, “I have sinned against the LORD” [1 Sam.12 v.13]. We are astonished at the blindness of David.  Let’s try to understand why he was so blind to the evil of his actions.  This event illustrates the danger of becoming all powerful – so that you are answerable to no-one.  The world has had innumerable examples of this, such as in the actions of present leaders. But the case of David is also one of spiritual blindness!  And how many suffer from spiritual blindness?

How real is God to us?  Are we always as conscious as we should be – of his all seeing eye?  We give prayers of thanks for food several times a day – we believe he hears, don’t we?  When we are conscious of wrong doing, we plead for his grace. But are we always conscious of our failures?

Let’s compare David with a disciple of Christ who was not conscious despite being personally witness to the wonder of his power and teaching. We read today in Matthew of how he came into the Temple and threw down 30 pieces of silver and declared, “ I have sinned by betraying innocent blood” [27 v.4] 

We suspect he had expected Jesus to escape in some way from their custody, as he had seen happen in the past, see for example, Luke 4 v. 29 when they took Jesus “To the brow of the hill … so they could throw him down the cliff.”  So Judas, we think, anticipated gaining 30 pieces of silver to add to his takings (John 12 v.6) from the “bag” – as he was the sort of treasurer to the group: maybe he reasoned that his ‘takings’ were a sort of ‘commission’ for looking after the money – it is amazing how the human mind can justify to themselves some of the things they do! 

Judas thought he could serve Jesus and serve Mammon (money) at the same time. How many do that today?  Some leaders of church groups have become very wealthy.  David’s son Solomon was to write in his God given wisdom, “Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle …” [Prov. 23 v.4,5] Let us be very vigilant not to sin against the Lord – for all wrong doing is against him.