JOY LOST IN SIN

          Many things can rob us of joy (people, circumstances, worry, possessions, etc.), but it might well be that SIN is the biggest robber of them all.

While obedience brings joy, sinfulness brings sorrow.  The Hebrew psalter opens by declaring, How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers (Ps.1:1).  Joy (blessings) come to those who do their best to steer clear of sinful entanglements.  Another psalm states, Happy is the person whose sins are forgiven, whose wrongs are pardoned (Ps.32:1/NCV).  How sweet to know that when we falter, a newfound joy comes to those who confess and repent - - God wipes away our transgressions (1Jn.1:9).

          The Scriptures provide a clear warning:  He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion (Prov.28:13).  The story of King David is an apt illustration of THE HIGH COST OF SIN (2Sam.11:1-27).  David’s restlessness gave rise to lust; Lust became covetousness; And covetousness morphed into thievery when an all-powerful King committed adultery with another man’s wife.  Bathsheba was the wife of Uriah, one of David’s most loyal soldiers.  The story gets worse.  When David realized that Bathsheba was pregnant with his child, he schemed to cover things up.  When Uriah failed to cooperate, King David gave an order to Joab that essentially sealed Uriah’s fate. 

          While 2Samuel 11 chronicles the sordid details of sin running amok, it does not tell us how David’s sinful deeds affected him.  However, David logs the extreme impact in one of his candid psalms:  When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groanings all day long.   For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer (Ps.32:3-4).  In yet another psalm (Ps.38:1-8), David elaborates on the toll of transgression.  He speaks of arrows and being pressed down, saying there is no soundness in my flesh…no health in my bones.  David alludes to a heavy burden and wounds and a burning sensation and feeling badly crushed.  With words that reek of utter despair David writes, I am bent over and greatly bowed down; I go mourning all day long (Ps.38:6).  As another Davidic psalm underscores, the only remedy for joy lost in sin is confession and repentance - - a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise (Ps.51:1-17).  

                                                          Terry Siverd / Cortland Church Of Christ