Psalm 31:9-10 Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am in trouble; my eye wastes away with grief, yes, my soul and my body! For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity…
King David is crying out to God. He admits he is in trouble. He recognizes the cause, it’s not his enemies, it’s not anyone close to him, it was his own doing – his own iniquity.
When we read the Bible, we can glance over the lives of men and women in an instant and capture their greatest moments – but with David, we also see his vulnerable side. We see his depressed and fallen moments. And the reality is that we will all have these days.
But David has this remarkable ability, despite depression, darkness, and condemnation to turn to the Lord and seek Him.
It doesn’t matter what had happened; trouble, setbacks, delays, giving in to temptation - whatever it was, it never drove David to a place of self-pity or anger where he turned his back on God. He always ran toward Him.
As we turn our hearts toward God, our soul is lifted, we are encouraged and renewed in our faith and hope. Look where David ends up after that dark place:
Vs 14 “But as for me, I will trust in You, O Lord…”
Vs 19 “Oh, how great is Your goodness…”
Vs 21 “Blessed be the Lord…”
Vs 23 “Oh, love the Lord, all you His saints…”
Vs 24 “Be of good courage…”
David recognized he had sinned and the weight of this sin was weighing him down, but he also knew the God of mercy and grace.
Paul casts some insight into the complexity of our sinful and redeemed nature. He says in Romans 7:15; I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do”.
He explains that the sinful nature (the flesh), does not want to submit itself to the ways of God and it is this nature that causes us to fall. But then Paul says in Romans 7:25; “In my MIND I am a slave to God’s law but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin and death.
Your mind and what it focuses on is the key. Paul reveals this in Romans 8:1-2 (NASB):
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”.
Paul says there is now no condemnation. That’s because Jesus took all condemnation upon Himself when He went to the cross. If you are condemned, just focus upon Jesus on the cross. He took your sin. He was punished, condemned, and judged in your place. Carry this image in your mind. That’s what is going to transform you and produce the fruit of victory over your flesh. It’s called being “righteous conscious”, not “sin conscious”.
Fixing your eyes upon Jesus on the cross will produce a righteousness consciousness. Do it daily and watch what happens. The power of Jesus' grace will transform you. It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen!