Psalms 38:17
“Follow the thing that is good”
Psalms 38:17-18, “For I am
ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me. For I will declare mine
iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.” Psalms chapter 38 is a Psalm that
teaches how important it is for a Christian to keep his sins confessed to
Christ and to be quick to return to the straight and narrow path when he has strayed. The first 11 verses in Psalms 38 talk about
the consequences of sin. In talking about king David’s sin it mentions how
those around him separated from. In thinking about this we are reminded of how
important is the principle of separation that is the separation of a Christian
from the world. Separation can influence a person to repent of their sins.
Simply by staying separated from the world and the things of the world and from
those living in sin it is a testimony against sin and false teaching.
In Psalms 38:17-18 the key word to
notice is the world halt. Psalms 38:17-18 says, “For I am ready to halt, and
my sorrow is continually before me. For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be
sorry for my sin.” The word halt is a word that can mean adversity. The word is
used in Jeremiah 20:10 which says, “For I heard
the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report
it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be
enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on
him.” To halt means to stop serving the LORD. If you have stop serving
the LORD then you have stopping doing your part to help spread the gospel of
Jesus Christ and the knowledge of the Holy Bible.
In talking about his own sinful
failures king David said in verse 17 that he was ready to halt. King David is
called a man after God’s own heart. Yet despite the kind of Christian that king
David was one of the things he is most remembered for is his own sinfulness in
murdering another man so that he could have that man’s wife. Of course this is
a failing of the ten commandments which says, “Thou shalt not covet.” Exodus 20:17 says, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maid servant,
nor his ox, nor is ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.” If you read the 10 commandments in Exodus you
will find that you have failed at them too. All men are sinners. Only Christ of
Nazareth of the Jews lived a life without sin.
Nothing can stop you from serving
Christ or picking up your cross daily and following Jesus, nothing except
yourself and your own failure to repent of your sins. I John 1:9 says, “If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The devil cannot stop you from
serving Christ. Even your own sins cannot stop you from serving Christ if you
repent of your sins.
In talking about the consequences of
sin in Psalms 38 one of the things that is mentioned
is the snares and the plotting of those who oppose the Word of God. One very
bad consequence that does sometimes happen to Christians that make mistakes is
it provides an opportunity for those who oppose them to persecute by slander.
The kind of slander that uses a Christian’s own failures against him can cause
a lot of shame, discouragement, and may even result in some not listening to
the Word of God because of that Christian’s failure. This is why those who
oppose the gospel of Christ are going to be extremely critical of Christians.
They are looking for opportunities to oppose the Word of God through the sinful
failures of Christians. Even if this does happen to you if you are a Christian
do not halt from doing your part in the spread of the Word of God. The work of
God is the most important work in this world because it is the work of
redemption from sin through the blood of Jesus Christ. The soul of man has an
eternal value. For even one soul to be lost to sin for eternity is a terrible
loss. And yet there are more who go to hell than to heaven. Jesus said in
Matthew 7:13, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for
wise is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth
to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.”
Think about how great was the failure
of King David. He murdered another man so he could have that man’s wife. Maybe
only God knows how great your sinfulness is or maybe the whole world knows.
Either way it is not a reason to halt from following the will of God. In Luke
9:62 Jesus said, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is
fit for the
Psalms 38:17-18 says, “For I am
ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me. For I will declare mine
iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.”
In talking about the consequences of sin and godly sorrow for sin it
should be emphasized that it is the godly sorrow for sin which leads men to
repentance. And it is repentance of sin
which keeps a person from halting in their service for Christ. There is also an
opposite side to this.
Not only is it good to have godly
sorrow for your own sins but it is good to have godly sorrow for the sins of
others. If only Christians had more godly sorrow over the sinfulness and the
spiritual blindness to which other men are enslaved in perhaps then those
Christians would continue to pick up their cross daily and not halt from doing
their part in the spread of the Word of God. Psalms 38:19-20, “But mine
enemies are lively, and they are strong: and they that hate me wrongfully are
multiplied. They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I
follow the thing that good is.”
In talking about the enemies of a
Christian notice that Psalms 38:20 says, “because I follow the thing that good
is.”
Isaiah 39:8 says, “Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, good is the word of the LORD which
thou hast spoken.” Good is the Word of the LORD. The more that you do to help
spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, the more that you do to help teach the Word
of God, the more that you speak respectfully about the Bible, the more often
even you talk about the Word of God, the more that you pray for and encourage
other Christians to help in the spread of the Bible, the more enemies you will
have, the more snares they will lay for you, the more they will persecute you,
and the more you will be slandered. Despite all these things, “good is the
Word of the Lord.”
Good is the Word of the LORD because
faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Good is the Word of the
LORD because it is without error and preserved forever. Good is the Word of the
LORD because it teaches sinners in the way. Good is the Word of the LORD
because Jesus is the Word and in the beginning was the Word and in the end will
be the Word because Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega. Good is the Word of the
LORD because in the beginning God spake and there was
light. Good is the Word of the LORD because in the end at the judgment all will
be judged according to things written in this book. Good is the Word of the
LORD it reveals all God’s great plan for mankind, for those that repent of
their sins and turn to Jesus Christ.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
All men are sinners but do not let
your own sinfulness keep you from following the thing which good is. Good is
the Word of the LORD. Good it is to repent of sin and to turn to Jesus Christ
for salvation.
___________________________________________________
Copyright; 2012 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved