Body, Soul, and Spirit:
When we fail to acknowledge our sins, we must be prepared to experience
psychological repercussions as well as physical ailments that are caused by intense guilt.
Here now is Gene Getz:
It's interesting that in the opening verse,
here of Psalm 38,
David's words of prayer
are almost identical to his
opening words in Psalm 6. Psalm 38:1 reads:
"LORD, do not punish me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath."
Now, let's compare that
with the opening verse in Psalm 6:
LORD, do not rebuke me
in Your anger; do not discipline me in Your wrath." The interesting thing is in
Psalm 6:1, he talks about rebuke. Rebuke.
But here in Psalm 38.1,
he talks about punishment. And the other interesting thing back
in Psalm 6, he doesn't talk about
the cause of his problem.
But here in this psalm,
Psalm 38, he tells us very specifically
the reason for this punishment.
It's sin and it's very clear, which you see him describing
here in Psalm 38, verses 3 and 4.
He says very specifically:
"There is no health in my body because
of Your indignation;" ... There he's talking about his
physical well-being. He goes on to say,
... "There is no strengthen in my bones because
of my sin." And as I said earlier
in Psalm 6, he talks about the same concept,
but he doesn't spell it out and why he's suffering.
Here we have that sin is the cause of David's
suffering. He goes on to say: "For my sins have flooded
over my head; they are a burden too heavy for me
to bear." And he then goes on to tell us what he did
about it when you get down to verse 18: "So I confess my guilt;
I am anxious because of my sin."
And there again
you see the whole emotional, psychological aspect
when he talks about his anxiety. He's not only
having problems physically, but certainly problems
in terms of his emotions and his guilt.
And he talks specifically here about his guilt because
of sin. Now what David does is he--
as we see in various psalms--under conviction,
he confesses that sin.
And he regains his relationship with God. And he actually experiences
psychological and physical healing when he deals with his spiritual problem.
But it's very clear in this Psalm that sin
impacted David's whole being. And it's fascinating when you get to the New Testament.
In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 23.
The apostle Paul dealt with the fact that we are both material and immaterial
beings. We have a body
but we also are immaterial. The real person--
the real you inhabits a body.
That's the real you. The body
is just, as it were, the house, as it were, that we live in.
it's integrated obviously and it will not be separated until death.
But here is what Paul wrote
in terms of our whole being. It was a prayer
for the Thessalonians and for us. And we can pray this for each other.
"Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely."
And that's a significant word: completely. What does he mean?
"Sanctify you completely." Well he goes on
to explain: "And may your spirit, soul,
and body be kept sound and blameless for the coming
of our LORD Jesus Christ."
Earlier in the psalms, as we looked at other principles, we talked about
these three dimensions.
And let me just go back to illustrate that
with this visual. We have the physical.
And that can be the focus of our problems.
That was not the focus of the problem here
for David. There can be the psychological. That can be
the focus of our problem.
But that wasn't the focus of the problem for David.
Then there is the spiritual.
And here was the focus of the problem for David.
It was sin. A violation of the will of God,
which affected the physical and the psychological.
So, it's so important that we understand the focus
of where the problem lies. In this case
it was sin in David's life.
No question about it. Now the Bible talks about the fact that
sin within our spirit--and how it affects the body and the soul--can be something that God disciplines.
And I don't understand this completely because it didn't happen often, I don't
think. But it certainly happened in the New Testament among the Corinthians who were living such
immoral lives.
And violating the will of God. And abusing the Lord's table. And
obviously they were converted out of incredible paganism. But notice
what Paul wrote: "This is why many
are sick and ill among you, and many have fallen asleep."
And there the word "fallen asleep"-- translated "fallen asleep"--is a euphemism
for death. That's a euphemism
for death. So some of the Corinthians were so
evil as believers that God took them home.
Now it's hard for us to understand that. And certainly only God knows
that. That's not a reason for us to judge people
because that can lead to incredible false conclusions.
But it's a reality. And it almost happened to David.
He almost died because of his sin.
But God forgave him because he confessed that sin.
I think we see a relationship here to what James wrote
in chapter 5: "Therefore, confess your sins" ...
Now again, what are we to confess?
We're to confess what David confessed.
"Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another,
so that you may be healed."
And there again we see a correlation
between the sins of these early believers that James was writing to
and their illnesses. And again the whole emphasis
of this passage is, "confess your sins ...
pray for one another, so that you might be healed."
Now that raises a very interesting question when it comes to application.
Based on this psalm,
how can we as Christians discover if our physical illnesses are caused by
specific sins in our lives or simply normal bodily deterioration and ailments?
Well I think all of us
can identify with normal deterioration.
I know I can. Now in general,
sin is at the base of all bodily deterioration. We are born to die.
Sin has impacted us. Sin impacted the whole creation.
Which groans, as it were, until God will ultimately restore this creation.
So it shouldn't surprise us that we have
illnesses. I have a friend. Just recently I was with her
and she's 91-years-old. And she is one
active lady. Amazing
what God has given her in terms of strength and
intelligence and ability to think. And
it's just amazing to watch her and to be around her.
But she was asking me to come and minister in her particular situation.
She was thinking about 2015 and was outlining
when she would like me to come. And then she, "Gene," she said,
"I may be dead and you may be dead."
We don't know what lies ahead.
But she said, "God's work will go on."
We both realize we're getting up in years. I just hope that I'm as strong as
she is when I reach
her age. The fact is
that we all have problems
that affect us physically that are not related to specific sins in our lives.
And I'm just thankful for medical science. I'm thankful for doctors
who were able to remove some cysts from my lower spine.
That just invariably changed my life.
Whereas years ago,
not removing those cysts, I could be in a wheelchair
the rest of my life. So we can thank God for medical
science because of body deterioration.
But the fact is, the Bible does teach
that there are some results of sin that leads
to serious, serious difficulty.
I remember a friend of mine.
I didn't know him well. But
growing up--I mean he was the town drunk--
and he embarrasses his dad. He embarrassed the family. He embarrassed the town.
But one night he was drunk. Had a girl with him.
Driving. Missed a curve. Went off the curve.
And killed her. He was so drunk he survived.
And that was a result of sin. He experienced
deterioration in his brain because of his drinking. Although he did come to Christ
towards the end of his life. But the results of his sin
took a person's life. So we see the results
of sin in terms of how it affects
people. But the fact is that
we need to think about that, but we have to think about it very cautiously.
And back to this question for reflection and response, so we don't lose the continuity:
[See,] based on this psalm, ...
Based on what we've read from the New Testament,
... how can we as Christians discover if our physical illnesses are caused by
specific sins in our lives or simply
normal bodily deterioration and ailments?
Well let me give you an encouraging statement.
Here it is: If you are sincerely
asking yourself what specific sin may be in your life
that is causing your illness
and you can't find it,
probably there isn't any. Because people who are sincerely evaluating their lives
will discover
if there's sin that's causing their problem.
And I say that because it's so easy to get introspective in a way we shouldn't.
And of course one of the most insensitive statements
that we can ever make to a person
who is ill, is to say: "Well there must be some
sin in your life. Wow.
How cruel. How insensitive.
Yes, we're all affected by sin. But that certainly is not an encouraging statement
to a person who really is trying to live for Jesus Christ.
So let's be encouraged but here's
the greatest encouragement of all.
1John 1:9: "If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
David learned that by faith,
even before Jesus Christ came and shed his blood
on the cross. "If we confess our sins,"
regardless of what it is,
"God is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all [ALL} unrighteousness."