Day 30: The Way Of The Warrior

The Way Of The Warrior

In this devotional, we’ll return to David’s dealing with the fallout from his sin.  The Lord  trains us to be persons who represent him to a decaying world.  We are the model for many people who have put their trust in external things, hoping in things like: careers, wealth, notoriety, relationships, fill-in-the-blanks.  As believers, we’re the standard bearers so people can see true satisfaction in spiritual matters.  Since spiritual data is not tangible, spiritual results must be witnessed – and we are the models.  We are the evidence that spiritual truth is reality.  Sin tarnishes that model.

That was David’s problem, his epic fail.  He was publicly found-out, having done a horrific act, of sexually molesting a man’s wife, then having her husband killed.  How was David going to right that wrong?  Humiliated by his sin, he tried desperately to hide it. Not all sin becomes public like David’s, but sin does not bring well-being.  The Lord will put pressure in your life, until your sin gets resolved.  The Lord is very creative, and he is more persistent than your desire to hide failures.  David discovered this truth. Read Psalm 32.

Also, David found out, that in spite of his colossal fiasco, the Lord was actually working diligently to restore fellowship with him.  David was stunned, the Lord was a raging advocate for him.  The Lord was not willing for David to miss the glories that God had set aside for him.  Yet the Lord does not overlook sin, blithely turning a blind eye to them.  The Lord faces our sin, head-on.  Our sin does not deter him from using us as the means to carry a message of hope to a lost world.  Even reprobate sinners like you and I, get reconstituted for the job of advocating for him to people who desperately need him.  Read John 21:15-17, about Peter.  He was challenged by the Lord, then put back into the fight.

David had a wake-up call about his spiritual life, then tells us about it in Psalm 51.  He notes that God was merciful to him (51:1) when he could have received justice.  He states that God was the victim of his rebellious perversion (51:3, 4).  David was stunned that he was a natural-born sinner, and was very good at it (51:5). Then David had an astonishing revelation: Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. (Ps. 51:6).  David is startled — ‘Behold!’ He had not understood that God ‘delights,’ that ‘truth’  takes root in our hearts.

However, we can defeat the effect of truth.  Here’s an example: But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matt. 5:28).  THE MIND IS THE BATTLEGROUND OF SIN. When your mind is engaged in truth, the Lord will partner with you to defeat sin. “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin? (Job 31:1).  Sexual sin, like any sin, starts in the mind. Pride, theft, lying, whatever the sin, begins in the cesspools of our mind. That is where the Lord starts. David was overwhelmed, that the Lord was reading his thoughts!  You’d better get used to it, you cannot scam him.  You can fool people, but not God.

Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being… Imagine the Lord walking the corridors of your mind.  He targets your inner sanctum, where you have your valuables.  He enters and finds your treasure is, truth. The Lord delights that you delight in truth.

Sinners need two things the Lord is willing to provide: pardon from sin, then purity of heart.  You cannot do either.  You can receive pardon from sin, and not desire purity.  You can be: Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly. (Prov. 26:11).  This is not a nice picture.  Pardon is given by God.  He is the one who is wronged (Psalm 51:4).  When we don’t want purity, we just return to sinning.  Maybe you hope to just do better.

David understood that pardon from his sin was desirable – then he sincerely wanted purity to be the engine that ran his life. He also realized he could not do ‘purity’ without help.

You teach me wisdom in the secret heart. (51:6).  What does that mean?  You are a student in spiritual school.  Before you were enrolled, you were gifted with a conscience.

They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them (Rom. 2:15).  We have a moral nature, implanted in everyone – our conscience.  God gave you a purity chip, in your mind.  It is embedded.  Here’s the bad news, you can disable the chip in some ways.  This verse says you can: even excuse them – your moral thoughts.  Bob Hope, comedian of our last generation said when he received the Congressional Gold Medal: “I feel very humble, but I think I have the strength of character to fight it.”  You can defeat your conscience.

In Biblical thought, the heart is your mind.  David found that his conscience got squashed, by something more powerful — his desires: What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? (James. 4:1).  David was a victim of his own human nature.  Passions are atomic weapons in purity warfare.

Human conscience (Rom 2:15) is kindergarten in moral growth.  Your moral character must be trained, enhanced to defeat your own desires. You must grow beyond the ABC’s of conscience, adding spiritual muscle into your character.  If purity is to be a reality in your life, you need advanced spiritual training. The Lord is the instructor.  He’s your professor, Drill Instructor and companion.  David says: you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. (Ps. 51:6).  The Lord lectures you, then trains you, just like Boot Camp.

Purity begins with the process of ‘de-sinning’ you.  It’s purity training. The Marine Corps called us ‘recruits’ in Boot Camp.  We were just glorified civilians, until we passed the rigors of training, then we became Marines.  We were purged of a civilian mindset.  So too, purity training. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. (Ps. 51:7).  ‘Purge’ means to cleansed.  Marines were cleansed from a civilian mindset that is risk averse. We changed to an attitude of defeating an adversary. A pure military mindset is able to tackle daunting problems, that a civilian mindset would fail at.

David wanted his sin to be completely removed, not just pardoned. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; (Isa. 1:18).  He was fed up with his sinning. David found the cycle of sinning, then getting pardoned, then failing again degraded his well-being.  The Lord ‘taught’ him that being pure was far better than the cycle of sinning then pardon.  Having the condition of purity enhanced him.  How about you?

By Nathan Werner