Our Psalm selection from this week’s Lectionary is one of praise to God for all of His marvelous works He has done both in our lives personally, and throughout the ages. God has always remained faithful to His people, and He is worthy of our praise. The psalmist wishes to remind us, the reader, of this, urging us to sing forth His praises and tell others of all He has done (vs. 1-5). He reminds the reader of one of the greatests works of God in their nation’s history - the parting of the Red Sea and deliverance from Pharaoh’s hands (vs. 6). We should always remember the many times the Lord has come to our aid, as well, and give Him praise (vs. 8).
The psalmist goes on to recall the times when things were difficult in his and other’s lives (vs. 10-12). He reminds us that God tests every believer and that when this happens, as it does to all Christians, not to get all discouraged and lose faith. He wants to see our true character and our heart. Just as silver and gold are put under intense heat in the smelting furnaces to make it pure, God does the same to us. We are more valuable to Him than silver and gold, and He wants to make something beautiful of us. Verse 12 is reminiscent of what the Prophet Isaiah would later speak to the people in Isaiah 43:2. God will bring His children out of all trials and calamities. Trust in Him!
Because of God’s deliverance of our psalmist from a trial he had gone through, he wanted to be sure to thank the Lord and follow through with any vows and promises he had made during those trying times (vs. 13-15). Many people will make promises to God during difficult or dangerous times. “Oh God”, they say, “if you will get me out of this trouble, if you spare my life, get me this job, etc. I will do such and such for you!” But what happens as soon as the Lord has brought them through that trial? So often every promise and vow is quickly forgotten! That’s not right, and our Psalmist makes sure that he fulfills all of his vows to God, giving Him thanks and praise.
Then he goes forth, determined to tell everyone he meets all about what God has done for him (vs. 16-17). When God has stepped into your life and answered your prayers, bringing healing, deliverance from addictions, a financial breakthrough, salvation of a loved one, or whatever it might be, do you keep that to yourself? No, we need to sing forth His praises. Our psalmist went to everyone he could, saying “Come here, let me tell you what God did for me!”
In the next verse, verse 18, the psalmist wants to remind everyone of one thing that might be a hindrance to God hearing and answering our prayers. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.” If we have deliberate, willful, unconfessed sin in our heart, the Lord cannot, and will not hear our prayers. Please, do not misunderstand, we all sin every day, whether it’s getting angry at a slow driver ahead of us, snapping unfairly at our children, not giving a good day of work for our boss, etc. We are fallen creatures in a sinful world, and even though we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and are washed in His Blood, we still sin. What the psalmist is saying here is deliberate and willful sin in defiance of God. This is sin that the Holy Spirit has brought conviction to us over, but we have turned away, refusing to confess and forsake it. If we do not respond to the Holy Spirit’s conviction to repent, He will not respond to our prayers. Such behavior on our part puts a wall up between us and God. We will not lose our salvation, but like a willful child who has been disobedient and is being punished by their parent, that parent will not listen or respond to all of their crying and pleading, so God will not listen to our prayers until we have honestly confessed, repented, and forsaken those willful sins.
Our psalmist friend has reassurance that this is not the case in his life (vs. 19). He makes sure that in his life, he has a clean record between him and God, with no unconfessed sins blocking the path of his prayers. That is something that we need to make sure is the case with us if we want our prayers to be heard and responded to by our Father in Heaven. Repeated, willful, unconfessed sins will harden our heart, and soon we will have no place for God in our life, and not even care that there is a wall between us. Don’t let that happen! Be like our psalmist here, and always be able to say with him “But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer.”
In the next verse, verse 18, the psalmist wants to remind everyone of one thing that might be a hindrance to God hearing and answering our prayers. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.” If we have deliberate, willful, unconfessed sin in our heart, the Lord cannot, and will not hear our prayers. Please, do not misunderstand, we all sin every day, whether it’s getting angry at a slow driver ahead of us, snapping unfairly at our children, not giving a good day of work for our boss, etc. We are fallen creatures in a sinful world, and even though we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and are washed in His Blood, we still sin. What the psalmist is saying here is deliberate and willful sin in defiance of God. This is sin that the Holy Spirit has brought conviction to us over, but we have turned away, refusing to confess and forsake it. If we do not respond to the Holy Spirit’s conviction to repent, He will not respond to our prayers. Such behavior on our part puts a wall up between us and God. We will not lose our salvation, but like a willful child who has been disobedient and is being punished by their parent, that parent will not listen or respond to all of their crying and pleading, so God will not listen to our prayers until we have honestly confessed, repented, and forsaken those willful sins.
Our psalmist friend has reassurance that this is not the case in his life (vs. 19). He makes sure that in his life, he has a clean record between him and God, with no unconfessed sins blocking the path of his prayers. That is something that we need to make sure is the case with us if we want our prayers to be heard and responded to by our Father in Heaven. Repeated, willful, unconfessed sins will harden our heart, and soon we will have no place for God in our life, and not even care that there is a wall between us. Don’t let that happen! Be like our psalmist here, and always be able to say with him “But certainly God has heard me; He has attended to the voice of my prayer.”
Thank you Sarah for another thought out devotional. Love to you, sister!
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