Psalm 38 - The Physical Effects of Sin

      Over the years I have witnessed the physical effects of sin in my office practice and on mission trips. In Nicaragua, there was a common list of complaints of women raised in the church who were living with their boyfriend out of wedlock and they knew it was wrong and it was affecting them physically. I called it the sin syndrome. I was a chaperone on a church trip with the youth and after a message on getting right with the Lord, one of the teen boys was so convicted of his sin of pornography that he was temporarily catatonic and was stuck halfway up the stairs. Sin affects us physically and there are several passages that discuss it in the Bible but the one I want to deal with today is Psalm 38.

1. guilt  My guilt has overwhelmed me

    like a burden too heavy to bear. vs 4

    Researchers have actually done studies on this and have found that being weighed down by guilt is more than a metaphor. people actually feel like they weigh more when they are feeling guilty. Guilt makes you feel like you are wearing weights. Weighed down by guilt: Research shows it's more than a metaphor (princeton.edu)

2. Depression  I am bowed down and brought very low;

    all day long I go about mourning.  vs 6

    Although sin may seem fun at the time, it will eventually lead to depression. If you are cheated on by someone you love, obviously that could lead to depression but what's interesting is the high incidence of depression found in the cheater. When people eschew Christianity, I have been interested in my office over the years to see how many are getting through life on anti-depressants. I think it's fair in witnessing to ask "How's that working out for you? are you on medication to keep you happy?

3 Body pain (fibromyalgia?)  My back is filled with searing pain;

    there is no health in my body. vs 7

    The burden of carrying sin and guilt can cause clenched muscles with fatigue and body pain from TMJ to low back pain. Massages and spas are so popular because they ease the tension of muscle spasms. Certainly muscle spasms are usually caused by hard work but sometimes just the anxiety and guilt of sin can cause chronic pain syndromes and many people feel that fibromyalgia is more of a psychological illness than a physical one.

4. Tachycardia (rapid heart rate)   I groan in anguish of heart.

 All my longings lie open before you, Lord;
    my sighing is not hidden from you.
 My heart pounds  vs 9,10

One of the top reasons that people get rapid heart rate is stress or anxiety. If you are in the midst of a sinful lifestyle the fear of being found out or the guilt can keep you up at night and you can feel your heart pounding in your chest. Are you relaxed and at peace without a guilty conscience? Isn't that awesome!

5. Fatigue - my strength fails me vs 10

If all the other symptoms are there, feeling weighed down, depressed, muscle aches, rapid heart beat, it only stands do reason that you would feel fatigued.

6. Loneliness or isolation - My friends and companions avoid me vs.11 

People in the midst of sin don't like to be alone. They need crowds, distractions, and not alone times where they are forced to reflect.

7. Paranoia / not thinking straight - Those who want to kill me set their traps,

    those who would harm me talk of my ruin;
    all day long they scheme and lie vs.12

Sin does not bring peace but an anxious plooting mind that thinks others are doing the same thinking about you. Sin brings a self-centered mind

God wrote the handbook for life and it's called the Bible. If we follow it this is the way to live the blessed life free from all these self inflicted burdens. It was tough on me as a doctor listening to all these complaints day after day and knowing that the root cause was they weren't right with the Lord. If I suggested this or pryed into their spiritual well-being, very few here in the Bible belt would admit to not being right with the Lord which made things difficult. Eventually I dropped the yearly checkup part of the practice because it got me down and sucked the joy out of me which delivering babies gave me in abundance.

When Following God Isn't Making Sense

' When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” Ex.13:17

        When you think you know the direction your life should be heading and God just doesn't seem to know what He is doing, you are in good company. The Israelites were fleeing Egypt, heading to the promised land and God took them on a path not headed in the right direction. Why? Because He knew that they weren't ready for the tests they would meet along the fast path. Maybe God knows that you aren't ready for that dream job, that forever relationship, that position of authority, that allure of wealth or that level of responsibility. Like the Karate kid, you need to "wax on wax off" for awhile and you are bursting at the seams to move on with life but God is training you. He knows more about you than you do. Trust His timing.

“Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon. Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’  Ex. 14:2-4

         Secondly, you might think "God has led me to a dead end. All the eligible men are married, I'm too old for children, my career path has stymied, my future looks bleak" ... you aren't alone. A million Israelites were led by a cloud to the edge of the sea with the Egyptians blocking their retreat.They probably thought "I guess the cloud doesn't know we can't float over water like a cloud can. That's what you get for following something without eyes." What they didn't and you don't know is that God is getting ready to do something God-like and He will grow in your eyes and He will be glorified. Picture Joseph year after year in prison waiting for his God moment. Faith takes patience because God's plan takes a while to become ripe.

On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain." Ex. 19:1,2

           Lastly, I can imagine the Israelites saying when they got to Sinai, "Hey, we're stopping here for a while? I want to get to the land of milk and honey." It's like saying, "Kids, I know we are on our way to Florida for spring break but we are going to stay at this exit a couple days because there is great shopping." Little did they know that the promised land is a let down compared to what they were about to witness. They had an opportunity to meet the creator of the universe. Are you looking for what's in God's hand rather than His hand. I love it when I offer my twin granddaughters a Cheerio and they don't want that but they want to hold my hand or me to pick them up. Sinai was in fact the end. The promised land was just the icing on the cake. Are you so ready to get to what God has planned for your life that you are missing His presence along the way? You have your eyes on the wrong thing.

Thoughts on Tithing From Malachi

  "When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.“Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord Almighty, “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty." 

Select verses in Malachi 1 & 3

     When the Angel of Death appeared at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite and halted, Araunah offered to give his land free of charge to David to build a temple. Why? I think for two main reasons. First, as you are looking at death square in the face, suddenly possessions don't matter - you are going to leave it all. Secondly, he got a glimpse of the glory of God and he knew that if God wanted his land, he would be honored to give it up. David's response was, "No, I want to pay. I won't give God anything that costs me nothing." Why did he say that? Because David, more than anyone possibly in the Old Testament, was keenly aware of the glory of God and David only wanted to give Him something that had great value.

       This gives us a little insight into why God was not pleased with the nation of Israel in Malachi. The nation had lost the value and glory of God and was demonstrating that in their giving. Instead of offering God the best of their flock for sacrifices they were giving Him the diseased animals, the ones they couldn't sell. We do the same often to ministries. I just donated all my medical equipment as I retired to a maternity clinic in Ukraine and they were thrilled but technically they received 5 year old ultrasounds that are probably on their way out. The medication we take on trips is usually one month from going out of date. We donate used vehicles for tax write offs, etc. and although it is all very helpful, do they deserve better? These are donations but hardly sacrifices. Are we valuing "our" money more than we value God?

    The other thing they were doing was giving Him token amounts of money. They weren't even "tipping" God.  He gave them the ability to make a living and somehow they had come to believe they were "self-made". Or possibly, they were financially barely making it so they thought "We can't afford to give 10% to God. I guess if we have something left over after the bills are paid we can give some to God but frankly it would be better to save in case we have a bad month next month." 

     The first reason for not giving seems worse than the second because it reeks of pride and disdain for God but the second one is bad too because it reveals a lack of faith and trust. God tells the people through Malachi "I can bless your 90% so 90>100." Do you have faith in God to surrender your first fruits -10% off the beginning of the paycheck and say "God bless the rest supernaturally. We are trusting you."

   I fear the Israelites who were about to stop hearing from God for 400 years are a lot like us in America. May we not go through a famine of the word of God and a manifestation of His presence due to our focusing on possessions rather than His majesty and glory. May we continue to remember that we are just short timers here and put possessions in the right perspective.

Witnessing as an End in Itself

    "I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ."  Philemon 1:6 NIV84

           I had previously done a blog on prayer as an end in itself discussing that needs come so it drives us to prayer and we look for results or answers. I discussed that maybe we focus too much on the answers and encouraging us to consider that maybe communication with God is the end in itself and answers were just the icing on the cake. We could also consider salvation in the same way. We say repent of your sins, come to Jesus, and you will get to spend eternity in Heaven. What if coming to Jesus was the end and Heaven is just the icing on the cake? You can see as Christianity is a relationship not a religion, we often tend to take our eyes off the relationship as the primary focus of our faith.

          This passage in Philemon, translated uniquely in the NIV84, gives us some insight into another Christian discipline that might have become out of focus - witnessing. Because of our command (great commission) and our compulsion ( the love of God and people compels us to give the good news) we look for people who are "lost" and introduce them to the good news that God has provided a way to have our sins forgiven and restore a relationship with our maker which is the very reason for our existence. We tend to be discouraged if the message is rejected which in some ways we should be just out of sadness that the person is missing out. But Paul says in Philemon that actually, the act of sharing, even in the absence of "results", has brought about different results inside of us. We have refamiliarized ourselves with the gospel everytime we share it which is almost like participating in the Lords Supper - it brings about a remembrance of his death burial and resurrection. It also gives us an experience of the power of the Spirit because He gives us the words to speak when we open our mouths. Lastly it has us participating in the work done by all the saints, including Jesus as we preach the coming of the Kingdom of God. It unites us with the body of Christ throughout history in a common mission.

         The feeling you get when you share the gospel is not diminished by the listener's response. Maybe the end of witnessing is witnessing itself?