[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during February 2023]
When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within[1]
Here, we are not talking about those ‘up-front’ temptations when we are faced with decisions about actions that we ought not to do or not doing things that we should do. Rather, we are looking at how the persistent memories of past sins can become a temptation in itself.
All Christians who are sincere about their faith will have had this experience. Very often it takes the form of a reminder of those things that we did wrong and the longer we dwell on them the ‘wronger’ they seem to get. But it is not just one recollection of an isolated event; one thing leads to another and the memories pile up, in the terminology of last month’s sermons, the mess gets messier.
How did we get into this state? Aren’t our sins supposed to have been forgiven so why do they continue to cause us such hassle?
One of the reasons that these memories persist is that we have to live with the consequences. God may forgive our sins but, it can be argued, rarely does he return our circumstances to what they would have been had we not sinned. David’s sin with Bathsheba was forgiven but Uriah remained dead. Similarly, these experiences may offer us lessons that we should not ignore. The apostle Peter made a lot of mistakes and learnt a lot of lessons after he met Jesus but in his more mature years he wrote:
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5 v7 [NIVUK]
However, there is no benefit in dwelling on the ‘might have been’; we have to move on from where we’re at. How can we take something positive from our negative feelings?
The psalmist wrote: “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us”.[2] Some 40 years ago I had the opportunity to circumnavigate the globe. Travelling from east to further east, there was always somewhere yet further east. Even in the Far East the Wild West is still to the east.
Of course, the psalmist would not have understood the concept of the earth as a globe. For him the sunrise and the sunset would define the extremities of the earth. Perhaps that offers us a hint for how to deal with persistent memories. At the end of each day, bring them to God in prayer. Tell him what’s on your mind, don’t worry about reminding him about things that he has forgotten!
In practical terms, reading a few verses from the Bible and then praying about them can help to calm our minds. If your circumstances allow, try listening to some quiet Christian music before falling asleep.
Finally, let us look again at the verse quoted earlier
When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within,
upward I look and see him there, who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Saviour died, my sinful soul is counted free;
for God the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me
Pardoned and free, we need not succumb to despair.
Resources:
[1] “Before the throne of God above” Charitie Lees Bancroft, 1863.
[2] Psalm 103 v12
Bible quotations: Unless otherwise specified, quotations are taken from the resources of Bible Gateway or Bible Hub, in accordance with the licencing conditions outlined on our Site Policies page.
Bible dates:
Where appropriate, the dates given for Biblical events are based on the Bible Timeline resource
and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.
Horley Baptist Church onlineHBC main site
Confidential prayer link
Return to Tuesday Challenge
Jump to Index of Bible Passages
Steve Humphreys
Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © the Author
