Text: “The troubles of my heart are enlarged; O bring Thou
me out of my distresses. Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and
forgive all my sins.”
Psalm 25:17-18.
Good morning, deeply troubled Christian! Like
the waves of the open ocean continuously breaking, relentlessly down upon the
bow of a ship; your troubles have come down upon your heart in waves of horror
and dread, and, at this moment, you may even be at your very wit’s end.
If so, look up dear Christian! The Lord KNOWS your plight, for He is
Jehovah Jireh - ’the Lord Who seeth afar off, and provideth.’
The Psalmist in today’s verses from Psalm 25:
complains to the Lord God of ’an enlarged heart‘; a heart (the inner being, not
the blood pump in our breast) filled with an overwhelming feeling of fear, and
dread, and a great loss of hope and encouragement. The writer of this
Psalm was in great distress indeed. And furthermore, he KNEW the reason
for his terrible distresses - his SINS.
Verse 18. “Look upon mine
affliction and my pain; and FORGIVE ALL MY SINS.”
Medical: In the medical realm, finding cure for a great ailment
depends, primarily, on successfully diagnosing the patient’s complaint. A
wrong diagnoses leads to an incorrect treatment of any medical complaint.
Spiritual: It is similar in the Spiritual realm. Correct
Spiritual diagnoses of the Christian’s complaint, can suggest great healing of
the experienced distress of ‘the enlarged heart’.
Verse 18. “The troubles
of my heart are enlarged. When trouble penetrates the heart, it is trouble indeed. In the case
before us, the heart was swollen with grief like a lake surcharged with water
by enormous floods; this is used as an argument for deliverance, and it is a
potent one. When the darkest hour of the night arrives, we may expect the
dawn; when the sea is at its lowest ebb, the tide must surely turn; and when
our troubles are enlarged to the greatest degree, then we may hopefully pray, O
bring Thou me out of my distresses.” (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of
David, page 129)
Is this YOUR situation today as you read this Bible
Lesson, dear Christian? If so, read on, and lift your voice unto the
Living Lord God; cry out for His cleansing from all sin, and His Sovereign
grace and mercy - He is only a prayer away.
“Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, ands show thee
great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” (Jeremiah 33:3)
Often, when you and I as regenerate Christians are
seeking to serve the Lord God more earnestly; more seriously; more fervently -
that is the time we will come up against the toughest, most unmerciful,
hindrances! (Ephesians 6:10-20)
This is a Spiritual WAR! We must not believe
that we can ‘…contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints…’ without
being wounded by the enemies of our souls. However, in Christ Jesus, we
have the Victory. (Jude 3) (Romans 8:37-39)
“Let no good man be surprised that his affliction is
great, and to him of an unaccountable character. It has always been so
with God’s people. The road to Heaven is soaked with the tears and blood
of the saints. We may not complaint of God, but we may complain to God.
With submission to His Holy will, we may earnestly cry for help and
deliverance.” (William S. Plumer 1802-1880)
When our hearts (entire inner
being) are ‘enlarged’ by such Spiritual distress and physical afflictions,
there is ALWAYS a direct cause or a purpose for it.
Such Spiritual and physical oppositions do not just
happen in a vacuum; there are Spiritual powers all around us, warring
continuously, and you and I as regenerate Christians often have a very real
part to play in the Spiritual conflict. Even a cursory reading of the
Book of Job will affirm this fact. Job was merely a much loved pawn in a
much more Eternal and deadly chess-game; a chess-game that saw Satan Eternally
check-mated at a place called Calvary.
“And she (Mary) shall bring forth a Son, and thou
shalt call His Name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.”
(Matthew 1:21)
For ’the people of God’, the sin question was dealt
with once and forever by the shedding of the precious, and sinless, Blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. When He cried, ’It his finished!’ on that day -
all Heaven, earth and Hell had to say a great ’Amen’. Because Christ
suffered and died for us, ’His people’, we are Eternally redeemed from all our
sins, and have assurance of Eternal Salvation, in Him. Amazing
grace!
“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with
corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation (entire
lifestyle) received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious Blood
of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot.” (1 Peter
18-19)
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