When We find No Rest!

(Psalms 22:2) “O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.”

Amazingly in this verse we see David in distress and in anguish, but although we see Him crying by day with the turmoil of his newly born son, a son through deceit and trickery, an act of sin, in his moment of weakness as lust drove him to act unwisely where he summoned Bathsheba to his quarters, a married woman. In fact, a married woman whose husband (Uriah) was fighting for David and Israel, so committed was he that he was willing to die for the cause, he was a loyal man, but David was drawn so deep into the error of his way that he eventually had the man killed to cover up his sin. No matter where we go or how we try and hide our sin, it will be exposed either in this life or the next. Unless we repent and believe on the Lord Jesus and we find forgiveness for our sin, then we will no longer be accountable for all our sin. To think of where my sin began and where would it end outside of Christ, is far too over bearing for me to even contemplate. O wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death? “Whosoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved!” With such an amazing offer of free grace, why will people not cry out to Him? And yet so many reject this salvation message! “Can you hear my cry my great God?” I know I am heard and only because of my great Saviour, Jesus Christ the Lord. Thank you my sweet King for dying in my stead, I am so unworthy of salvation and yet you chose to die on a cross for me, thank you my great Shepherd. Whenever I was lost and rebellious in my wondering in the wilderness of deceit and treachery, you found me, for this I will be forever thankful, you have done more for me than most, I have been unruly and disobedient so often in my life and yet you never discarded me on the rubbish dump. My fate should be hell and yet my hope is heaven. I challenge all outside of Christ, who can say they serve a God like I serve, He is righteous, He is always faithful even when I was not, He is slow to anger and full of mercy and He lovingly teaches obedience even if it has been very painful at times throughout life’s journey, He cares for me and for all who cry out to Him. David felt much pain for his wrong doing with a woman many years ago, he lost a son and had a man killed all because of his passion and lust for what his eyes had to have, the “lust of the eyes” rampant and on a charge like a bull without any thought given to who will be hurt along the way. With sin there are always causalities! Here again we see a typical example of God’s grace and mercy merited out on David, yet there where consequences to His sin. That good old cliché rings true, with every action there must be a reaction. We will find forgiveness for sin if we earnestly seek it from God above, in and through His beloved Son, Jesus Christ the Lord. There will however still be consequences, we see that in the story of David, in fact the sword did not leave his house as result of his sin and His own son ended up dead while trying to overthrow him and his kingdom. Stephen you can read the full account of what took place in and through that incident in 2 Samuel chapters 11 and 12.

I wonder, when I find no peaceful rest during sleep is it a consequence of the sin in my life and a reaction to all my disobedience through life? When I dream of lions on the prowl looking to hunt me down, is it a result of folly and bad pronouncements in times past? It may well be! David fasted for seven days on account of His wrong-doing and for seven nights lay on the ground as torment and sleep eluded him as he look for healing for his dying son. Forgiveness was never in question for Him as it will never be in question for all who truly repent and believe on the Lord Jesus, but we must never take sin lightly as it is an offence to God. Such an offence that He had to deal with it once and for all by sending His own Son to die for it. God himself died for man’s sin! Let us never undermine our sin; sin is a serious offence before God. Sin must force us to repent and find forgiveness; we must never take it lightly in our lives!

The Lord Jesus hung upon a tree for my sin and for yours, even despite the fact that He knew no sin, not once in His life did He ever break one of God’s laws, a man without sin and yet he cried out; “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34)

David suffered the consequence of His sin, I suffer the consequence of my sin but the Lord had no sin and yet He suffered on our behalf for sin, may this thought grip your hearts as it now grips mine, it was a phenomenal feat the work of Calvary, how will one escape judgement if we neglect so great a salvation, we will not escape! Fire and brimstone will be our end for all eternity, but the grace of God is still available to all who will repent, there is a day coming when this offer will no longer be on the table, but today it is still on offer for all who would turn to Him in repentance. I plead with you, repent and be saved while the daylight still shines.

We see a withdrawal of God’s favour because of sin in the life of David; I must however emphasis forgiveness is ours to be had for sin because of what the Lord Jesus accomplished on Calvary, but consequences are real and evident in the lives of believers throughout history, David lost his son’s, Samson lost his eyes and I am HIV positive... please do not think for a minute that I would want to compare myself with these two great men of God, there is no comparison, all I have venture to do is highlight the consequence of sin in my life and our lives. We must learn not to grumble because of our bad choices along life journey.

Matthew Henry has this to say on the topic; “A sad complaint of God's withdrawings, this may be applied to David, or any other child of God, in the want of the tokens of his favour, pressed with the burden of his displeasure, roaring under it, as one overwhelmed with grief and terror, crying earnestly for relief, and, in this case, apprehending himself forsaken of God, unhelped, unheard, yet calling him, again and again, “My God,” and continuing to cry day and night to him and earnestly desiring his gracious returns. Note, (1.) Spiritual desertions are the saints' sorest afflictions; when their evidences are clouded, divine consolations suspended, their communion with God interrupted, and the terrors of God set in array against them, how sad are their spirits, and how sapless all their comforts! (2.) Even their complaint of these burdens is a good sign of spiritual life and spiritual senses exercised. To cry out, “My God, why am I sick? Why am I poor?” would give cause to suspect discontent and worldliness. But, Why has though forsaken me? is the language of a heart binding up its happiness in God's favour. (3.) When we are lamenting God's withdrawings, yet still we must call him our God, and continue to call upon him as ours. When we want the faith of assurance we must live by a faith of adherence. “However it be, yet God is good, and he is mine; though he slay me, yet I trust in him; though he do not answer me immediately, I will continue praying and waiting; though he be silent, I will not be silent.”

May his teaching help us in time of need...!

Signing off

Tyrone