Sleep Well
November 17, 2024
The Regretful Heart
May 15, 2018
Now David's heart troubled him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the LORD, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O LORD, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly." -2 Samuel 24:10
David’s heart, in my boyhood Mississippi-speak, “beat up on him” after he took a census of Israel. That’s the literal meaning of “troubled.”
David was supposed to put his confidence in God, not in the size of his populace and numbers of potential warriors.
Regret is not repentance, and really gets us nowhere. Regret is a self-word, half self-reproach and half self-pity. Esau was full of regret he lost his inheritance, but not repentance. He wept over his losses, but not the lifestyle that caused them.
Years ago an airplane was in trouble. A popular comedian aboard tried to calm the passengers with humor. When the plane landed safely after a harrowing few minutes, the comic said, “Now, ladies and gentlemen, you may return to the sins you gave up 20 minutes ago.”
The question is not, “Is your heart broken because of sin?” The question is, “Is your heart broken from sin?”
TODAY’S HEART FOCUS
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you discern your own heart, and whether you have regret or repentance.
David was supposed to put his confidence in God, not in the size of his populace and numbers of potential warriors.
Regret is not repentance, and really gets us nowhere. Regret is a self-word, half self-reproach and half self-pity. Esau was full of regret he lost his inheritance, but not repentance. He wept over his losses, but not the lifestyle that caused them.
Years ago an airplane was in trouble. A popular comedian aboard tried to calm the passengers with humor. When the plane landed safely after a harrowing few minutes, the comic said, “Now, ladies and gentlemen, you may return to the sins you gave up 20 minutes ago.”
The question is not, “Is your heart broken because of sin?” The question is, “Is your heart broken from sin?”
TODAY’S HEART FOCUS
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you discern your own heart, and whether you have regret or repentance.
