Instructed Sinners: Psalm 25: 8-9

              Today's post focuses on a part of faith that can be hard to deal with: How do I approach God after sinning? The natural reaction of most of us, me included, has been to pull away from God and wait for the feelings of guilt and shame to subside before approaching God again. Other natural reactions include trying to do something to repay God for his "loss" and approaching him once we've paid "the bill", whether that be through prayer or confessing our sins several times. First of all, this thought is completely out of line with scripture. God is not damaged by our sin at all. Check out Job 35:6-8:

6 If you sin, how does that affect him?
    If your sins are many, what does that do to him?
7 If you are righteous, what do you give to him,
    or what does he receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself,
    and your righteousness only the sons of men.

          Next, then, is to receive a word of instruction from the Lord: We are to turn immediately to face him. Even if we sinned just a moment ago, there is no other response than to run straight into his arms. This response is validated in sections like Isaiah 55:7:

7 Let the wicked forsake his way
    and the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him,
    and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

         But does this make any sense at all? Why would God accept us back without even the slightest slap on  the back of the head? God responds in the following verse:

 8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

          God tells us that we will never be able to understand why we can run straight back to him. In other words, turning straight back to God probably won't make sense when you've just committed a sin, whether it be lust, lying, or (God-forbid) murder. There are consequences for our actions, of course, and the Bible talks plenty about our God of justice as well as the need to take accountability for our actions. However, this doesn't mean that God will reject us if we immediately turn back to him with a repentant heart. God will never reject that kind of spirit. Psalm 51:17 says:

17 The sacrifices of God are[a] a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart,
    O God, you will not despise.

          John 6:37 says:

 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.

          Ezekiel 33:12 continues this theme and adds a note that good works will never be able to counteract God's judgement.

12 “Therefore, son of man, say to your countrymen, ‘The righteousness of the righteous man will not save him when he disobeys, and the wickedness of the wicked man will not cause him to fall when he turns from it. The righteous man, if he sins, will not be allowed to live because of his former righteousness.’

           This may seem funny to you, but from my experience, there is usually a "post-temptation" where Satan tempts you to focus on yourself after you sin. Many times, this might be Satan's goal in tempting you to sin in the first place since discouraging and distracting you from your ministry might slow down the work of the gospel or of edification in the lives of fellow believers. Resist the desire to focus on your sin nature, appease God, or immediately make a list of reforms to improve yourself, but rather focus on immediately running into the arms of God. After you have reengaged your relationship with God, you can address the sin issue and be empowered to confront it through God's love and grace. This brings me to the theme verse of this post: Psalm 25:8-9:

8 Good and upright is the Lord;    therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.9 He guides the humble in what is right    and teaches them his way.

            God teaches sinners about himself (we are all sinners, by the way). He guides the humble in his ways. If we train ourselves to react to our sin nature by running to God in humility, we will defeat Satan's plans to use the sin to focus on and drag ourselves through hurtful and wasteful systems that seek to appease God through good works. After you sin, all God wants is you. Nothing else will satisfy him. Admit that you sinned, repent, and turn to his face. This will actually help you to become Christ-like much quicker than any system that you could invent on your own, as attested to in Colossians 2:20-23:

20 Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

          If there any special questions that you need to address about these issues, just let me know and I'll do my best to respond in a wise and discerning manner.
In Christ,
Simeon Snow