Post 13 in Lifting up the Soul
“Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;”
Psalm 25:7a
David’s life was not a sinless one. David took responsibility for the sins of his past, regretting the acts he committed against God. He wanted to do better and leave those burdens behind. He asked God not to keep those past wrongs against him, holding them up and punishing him for them. David was revisiting those transgressions while under fire. Based on the emotions expressed in this psalm, David felt swallowed up by circumstances in his life. While he calls out to God, he reveals a valuable principle: that God allowed David to remember his past wrongs. Remembering the past provides impetus never to return back to that time when the soul was not lifted up to God.
The life choices we’ve made and the consequences for those choices haunt us for good reason. We might slip back into that old life if we aren’t reminded. Yet, the reminder is not God holding up our wrongs and mocking us or berating us. Instead, He is showing us the captivity we escaped. Why does this happen in the midst of emotional battles and hard situations? Our Creator made our minds hardwired to look for the reasons for our misfortunes and difficulties. Our brains are designed to remember being hurt and to avoid negative consequences. This is how we preserve ourselves and survive. That’s why a child yanks his hand off the hot stove in a jiffy. We need that instinctive cause/effect thinking. When bad things happen to us and to our loved ones, we are meant to start asking questions. “What can I do to make this pain stop? How can I remove myself from getting hurt?” We begin to question, “Is this my fault? Who’s to blame here?” God designed us to do this. It’s good to ask these questions and find the source of our pain. When we are to blame, this instinct provides us with impetus to come back to God. Like David, we can reassess our standing with God. That doesn’t mean that all situations are going to work out the way we expect them to or that nothing bad will happen ever again. God knows the deeper reasons for what is happening in our lives.
The phrase “sins of my youth” has to do with the offenses we commit when we are ignorant of God’s greatness. Children don’t revere authority because they don’t know what authority is or how to show proper respect. They have trouble following rules. The sins of one’s youth are the sins of one who has not come to the full knowledge of what they are doing and the harm it will bring. There is a maturity implied by this phrase that shows us that one can come to a greater knowledge that leads to respect and acknowledgement of the gravity of sinning against Him. Once we realize the gravity of our wrongs, we take responsibility for our sins against Him.
Saul of Tarsus, who later became the apostle Paul, is a peerless example of overcoming a sin-filled past. He is described as a “young man” when Stephen is murdered in Acts 7. Saul was zealous to follow in the steps of his religious leaders, and those leaders were filled with hatred and violence toward Christ and His Church. So, Saul, in ignorance, adopted their hatred in his enthusiasm to serve. The blood of the saints was on his hands before he came to Christ. Throughout his letters it is clear he remembered his wrongs, yet he used his past to press forward to a better future. He wrote, “Brethren, I count not myself yet to have laid hold: but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14ASV).
If Saul could use his past to bring joy and hope, so can we. When we commit wrongs against God, that knowledge can cause us to want to give up. We can stop trying to lift up our souls to God. The Devil wants this. He uses the past wrongs as a weapon to beat us down.
Job combed through his past and his present life looking for what he had done to deserve the terrible pain and torment he suffered through. And after he lost his children, his livelihood, and his health, he was inflicted with the dreadful pain of having no one believe him. His friends were adamant that he was being punished and drove him into a cycle of “yes, you did” and “no, I didn’t” mind-battering. Thinking they were aiding him, they falsely advised him, falsely accused him, shamed him, and condemned him. Fortunately, God stopped these men and saved Job. The fiery trial of Job culminated in a faith-quaking experience which so few, if any, would be able to withstand. God sets Job’s questioning and self-examination before our eyes and teaches us that it’s okay to revisit the past. It’s okay to confess our wrongs again to Him, but that reminder is not meant to make us give up. We acknowledge it and press closer to Him because He saved us from that awful state. He saved us by allowing His own Son to carry that burden—that condemnation of men—to the cross.
Holy sister, times come when you dig into your heart to ask, “What have I done wrong? What have I done that I am facing this horrible situation?” The past will come flooding back, and Satan may tempt you to condemn yourself and give up. But you are not meant to use your past wrongs as a burden of self-doubt but as a reminder of what God has brought you through. As you ask Him not to remember the things you did against Him in ignorance or purposefully, know that He is faithful and gracious toward you. Reflect on your life by taking responsibility. Accept that your past sins enslaved you and lay the burden of the past aside. Your freedom in Christ lifts up your soul to the One who doesn’t mock or berate you for them. Your sins are behind you. You are clean and pure in His presence. God does not crush you; He pricks your tender heart to lift you closer to Him.
God shows us how to reflect on our heart’s past sins:
Who can discern his errors? Clear thou me from hidden faults. 13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me: Then shall I be upright, And I shall be clear from great transgression. Psalm 19:12-13
Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Hebrews 12:1
Hereby shall we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our heart before him: because if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. 1 John 3:19-20
This is the thirteenth post in the Lifting Up the Soul study from Psalm 25. Subscribe to WomEnCourage to be notified as this study continues.