Psalms 38:5 – My wounds grow foul and fester because of my folly. King David did some foolish things in his life which were foolish in the eyes of both God and man. God’s Word has recorded many of these thoughtless acts of David for us to learn from. He has now come to confess his overwhelming foolishness to the Lord. David was impulsive and at times exhibited haste and impatience. He was thoughtless in jumping into wrong conclusions and acted out of sheer human reasoning rather than spiritual convictions. But David had the blessed experience of reacting to his follies with confession and repentance. David realized the depth of his folly and lamented about it. When his heart was broken over it, he spoke to the Lord about it and asked for mends. David had the grace to confess his foolish acts as he knew how it had broken God’s heart and grieved His Spirit. When he confessed, the Lord was gracious to forgive him. David’s life is a great challenge for us today when we recount the very many foolish things we would have committed. Many of our choices in life would have come out of impulse and impatience. Sometimes we do not consult our Lord and wait for Him to let His mind known to us. All the ways that we choose need not be those that are chosen for us by the Lord. We are bound to make wrong decisions in life which have serious consequences. But it is comforting to know that our Lord forgives us of our follies and makes mends for us. He helps us to learn lessons from our past follies. When our foolish acts come out as open and infected wounds with foul smell, still our Lord will not leave us unattended. When we confess it to Him, He comes to dress our wounds and pour in oil and wine to sooth and heal us. He will not remember the follies and sins that we confess to Him. He will forgive all our past mistakes and help us to start all over again. He will not peel our wounds off to bleed us and bear us open before others.
Dear friend, have you ever been convicted of your foolishness in life? Even the most intelligent and experienced person commits foolish acts which open up wounds because of the consequences of such impulsive acts. But when a child of God repents of such hasty and impulsive acts and confesses it to the Lord, He will not come to rebuke and scold us, but to forgive and comfort us. He will make mends for our foolish decisions and acts and help us by dressing our wounds and apply the Balm of Gilead to heal us. Perhaps we will have to bear the consequences of many of our past foolish acts, but our Lord will help us to bear it all with grace and start all over again. David had to pay heavily for some of his foolish acts, but the Lord brought him through it all and continued to use him for His glory. Abraham made some impulsive decisions in life for which he had to pay heavy price, but the Lord accepted his repentance and continued to bless him. Jacob had made foolish decisions in life, but God humbled him at Peniel and kept him going until God’s plans for him were accomplished. Out of compassion to us, our Lord comes to rescue us from the horrible consequences of our past foolishness when we confess it to Him. He understands our foolishness and sympathizes with us. If we are sincere in our confessions to Him, He will give us strength to keep going forward, and will not keeping on accusing and rebuking us. Our Lord has compassion on us and He will hold our hands and help us not to fall into foolish and impulsive acts. But we will have to live with greater dependence on the Lord in making decisions and taking steps of faith forward. We must commit ourselves more intimately to the Lord to help us avoid impulsive and hasty decisions and take each step in our lives with care and prayer.
Psalms 69:5 – O God, it is You who knows my folly; and my wrongs are not hidden from You. Thought for Today If we confess our foolishness and haste to the Lord, He will forgive our past, help us to mend our ways and choose our future steps carefully.
