The Growing Pains of Life...

Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

Psalm 51:6

I am pretty sure that we all can recall several things that we have done in this lifetime that quite simply we are not proud of… I know that there are many decisions that we have made which we wish we could go back and change; however, today’s message teaches us that we must learn from these mistakes, accept them as mistakes and lay them before the Lord in the form of repentance… A lot of us have delayed and/or missed our calling because we have allowed the mistakes of yesterday to limit our ascension of today… The vice which has held you, the chain which has restricted you can be broken today if you confess to the Lord knowing that He wants to change and transform you… I find it sad to see so many people with so much potential who have allowed their destiny to be defined by their past failures… David shows us today that we can overcome the darkest secret and become the light which God has called us to be despite the darkness we once dwelled in… God wants you to know that He isn’t concerned about yesterday as much as He is concerned about today… You can right your wrong, you can convert your negative into a  positive; this doesn’t mean having the ability to go back in time, but rather to acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ because of your past so that He can ignite your future… The enemy wants to keep the millstone tied around your neck; however, David teaches us today that the Love of God is pure and without limitations… The Lord can reach you wherever you are, wipe whatever filth from you and use that skeleton to impart things in you so that you shall know wisdom… Paul teaches us in the 13^th chapter of his letter to the Church of Corinth that, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” Paul reminds us that there is nothing which separates Gods love from His creation and David teaches the same thing even in the greatest of misfortunes… God is not worried about the things on the surface of your being, but that the seed which is planted in you has the fertile grounds needed to sprout… Today’s passage reminds me of how some many individuals find themselves living a double life simply because they don’t deal with the ugliness that dwells inside of them… Your beauty is not developed on the outside but within and this is why the psalmist says thou desirest truth in the inward parts… The bible tells us that when Saul was rejected as king, God sent Samuel out to anoint the next in line to take the thrown of Israel… Samuel was lead to the house of Jesse and appeared to him to anoint the king to be… When Samuel set his eyes on Jesses’ first son he said this must be the one whom the Lord has chosen; however, God informed Samuel that this was not the one to replace Saul and said that man looks at the outward appearance but that God looks at the heart…

After passing through all Jesses’ sons, Samuel finally called for David (the youngest son) whom was the one that God had selected to be the next king of Israel… This passage displays the importance of being the true desires of God in exalting his creation… David was anointed king because of the heart he had to serve the Lord, it was not David’s appearance, it was not his stature, but the willingness he had to be transformed by God… Today’s psalm was written by David at a point in time in his life when he had made some bad choices, this psalm was written at a point in time when he had made some mistakes and we see through this psalm what must be done in order to be healed from your past choices and failures… Understanding that God looks at the heart of man lets me know that we must accept the sinful nature we are born with… This acceptance is not related to willfully doing wrong, but knowing that is exists within us… David says, “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts…” God desires to purge you of the sinful nature, He desires to transform you by the renewing of your mind, and God desires to cleanse you from the evil that lies in the inward parts… There are a lot of mistakes we have made and a lot of skeletons in our closet (inward parts)…. If you want to be made whole, if you want to be filled with the word and will of God you must acknowledge the inward parts of your life that need to be cleansed and repaired… David writes this psalm after committing adultery, impregnating a woman (Bathsheba) and killing a man (Uriah) to take his wife from him… The child that Bathsheba bore was removed from the face of this earth by the Lord and this obstacle in David’s life lead him to write this psalm… There are a lot of obstacles in our lives that have come upon us because of the mistakes that we have made; however, the choice is ours whether these obstacles will become stepping stones or stumbling blocks… David repented in this psalm unto the Lord and received another son from Bathsheba named Solomon who would become the wisest man to ever live… God desires truth to live within you; this can only come about when you acknowledge your life of sin (David writing this psalm) and accept the disciplines of God as a corrective measure to place you on the right road for your journey… When the truth is in you all lies are cast out, when the truth is in you all deception is gone, when the truth is in you God himself resides within and your purpose for life becomes clear; obstacles become stepping stones and you learn from your storms and mistakes which in turn become wisdom that you can pass on to your offspring and anyone you encounter…

BE BLESSED!!!