FTGC-16b-FINDING YOUR WAY BACK TO GOD--CAN A WORLD FAMOUS SERVANT OF GOD SURVIVE EPIC MORAL FAILURE?

Psalm 51 is a roadmap to anyone who has ever strayed from the Lord; it is a beacon that clearly captures the roadway back to God. David fell so far, so fast, and he didn’t even realize it until the dullness of his soul spread to every inch of his spiritual life. Soon his cold and lonely heart was combined with his tormented soul and trapped in a painfully chastened body. And he stayed at the bottom like that for almost a year. Does that length of time surprise you? After all, think of who had fallen so far away from the God he passionately loved and served. For David was a man who: Getting out of The Ditch of Sin How deep was the ditch? It was deep because David had known God so closely, so warmly, and so completely. David: • Was talked to directly by God through inspiration; • Knew the indwelling presence of God the Spirit; • Had the direct line to God’s throne by way of prophets; • Could enter the very tent of God built to the Lord’s specs; • Perhaps held the very scrolls Moses had written down; • May have seen the stone tablets of the Law that were kept in the Ark of the Covenant; • Had seen God’s supernatural protection month after month in hand-to-hand combat. David was never defeated on the battlefield and, as far as we know, never even wounded in spite of the tens of thousands of weapons that had at some time been aimed at him by those who hated him and wanted him dead. David was a man who knew God, experienced God’s presence, loved God, sang scores of songs inspired by God, and wrote chapters of the eternal Word of God—and yet he seemed to lose touch with God for a year! Amazingly, David hid this well as he went through the motions of being the king. After all, he was God’s leader—the sweet psalmist of Israel, head of the family line that would never end, and the one through whom the Christ would come. But like an engine without fuel or an electronic device with no power, those blessings and benefits meant nothing when he walked away from the Lord and stayed away for a long time. It may have looked like David had gotten away with sin to the casual observer. But David was God’s man, and He would never let His chosen servant get by with sin. In reality, during the interval David kept quiet, he was tormented from within and without—as seen in Psalm 38, which was a prayer of intense lament during chastening. Psalm 32, which I like to call “The Song of a Soul Set Free,” was probably an expression of his initial gratitude over the relief of forgiveness. That song shows what happened in David’s heart during this distressful period. The self-inflicted stress of those many months was completely debilitating to him: When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the daylong. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me: my vitality was turned into the drought of summer (Psalm 32:3-4). If we could have visited the court of David during that nearly year of hidden sin, we would have seen him literally aging before our eyes! But now COMING BACK TO GOD Only God could relieve David’s cold, distant, lonely tormented heart by granting complete forgiveness and restoring his joy, peace, and security. Hence Psalm 51 is all about David, who had been so far away, coming back to the Lord. It stands as a paradigm of prayers for forgiveness of sins—a divinely inspired roadmap to the path back to God. As we read this inspired Psalm, watch how David laid bare his soul as he sought restoration from the Lord. Please stand with me for the reading of: PSALM 51— A PRAYER OF REPENTANCE (FTGC-16; LOD-27; 110123PM) Follow Discover the Book Ministries to stay up to date: Facebook:   / discoverthebook   Instagram:   / discoverthebookministry   Twitter:   / discoverthebook   Purchase resources: E-Books: https://tinyurl.com/y3wbhlxy Traditional Books: https://tinyurl.com/y4xgz9rb Audio CDs: https://tinyurl.com/y5nnj3eu Donate to the ministry: https://discoverthebook.org/donations... PayPal QuickLink: https://paypal.me/JohnandBonnieDTBM?l... For more of Dr. John Barnett's Bible teaching messages go to: https://discoverthebook.org/