January 6

January 6, 2012
I began my first class of seminary when I was 25, almost26. I walked across the stage to receive my diploma when I had just turned 30, little over 4 years of constant toil. To a 25-30 year-old, 4 years seems a long time. Working full-time, going to graduate school full-time, having a family, and spending 10 hours a week in ministry was very wearying to the body, mind and spirit. When 2 years were completed and there were still 2 more years to go, it seemed that I had been working forever and that eternity stretched out before me. I was weak, and my bones were troubled. The question was, “How long O Lord?”
David was in a worse situation. He knows that he is guilty of sin for he cries out, “Do not chasten me in Your displeasure!” Could this be one of the Psalms that he penned after lusting after Bathsheba or wrongfully taking the census? Or could it be just some other occasion of which we are not informed of his sin? After all, he is a man of bloodshed, a man who had a minimum of 8 wives. He was a man full of passion—not just sexual passion. Perhaps his guilt is in one of those other areas of unbridled passion. Whatever his guilt, it is immaterial to the Psalm. In his misery he cries out, “How long O Lord?”
Tell me, was his question directed toward how long the Lord would put up with his mess or how long until he would be delivered? He desired to be healed of the trouble. Am I troubled by my sin, or do I push it off and cover it up in hopes that it will go away? Do I want to be healed of it, not just forgiven for it, but healed of it? Do I want it departed from me?
One thing that David knows is that it is the presence of the Lord that heals. He cries out, “Return to me!” When all other remedies lead to death, and we recognize that they lead to death, then we can honestly cry out, “Return to me, deliver me!” It is in that time of vulnerability that the Lord returns.
In that self-revelation of truth, that vulnerable moment, he makes the decision, “Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity!” David wants no part in being tempted back into participating in his former state. He wants to walk worthy of the Lord. That is when the Lord meets him and delivers him.
After two years of seminary, it seemed that I had endured an eternity and had another eternity to go. How long? I called upon the Lord and kept on the path that He had revealed. Laura prayed for me and helped me. The Lord met me and enabled me to keep on pursuing Him and His course of action. He delivered me. That is always the case. Even when I am guilty of sin, He waits for me to come again to that point of repentance where I can honestly say, “Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity!” Why? Because only in that state, can I truly be interested in His glory. It is no longer about me and only about Him. There is one day when He will judge the world. Those who have never come to that point of repentance, to them He will say, “Depart from me you workers of iniquity.”
That is His glory. He will exchange my iniquity for His glory if I will repent and believe. He will empower me to live as He directs. He will judge those who do not. That is His glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john