For troubles without number have surrounded me; my sins have overtaken me; I am unable to see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my courage leaves me.      Psalms 40:12 HCSB

David begins this Psalm with a prayer of thanksgiving, but in this Scripture passage he describes the havoc that sin wreaks on the human life.

David was a man after God’s own heart, but he sinned, and he paid a hefty price for it. The Bible has a lot to say about sin and I have shared some of these passages with you. If you go to a church where the pastor claims to preach from the Bible but never mentions sin or hell, you might want to find another church.

Sin is real, the devil is real and so is hell. God will not overlook our sin, but He will save us from it.

The interesting thing about sin is we can rule over it or it can take our lives over. God gives us the power to withstand sin. He gives us a choice. In Genesis 4:7 God told Cain, “If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

Paul says in Romans 3:23 all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. He says in Romans 6:23 the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Sin is clearly a choice we make. In 1 Corinthians 10:13 we are told that no temptation has overtaken us that is not common to man. All suffer from the same temptation. But we are also told that God is faithful. He won’t allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear and that he will also provide a way to escape sin.

If we sin, we are a slave to sin (John 8:34). But the way to escape sin is to submit ourselves to Christ and resist the devil (James 4:8). Walking in the Spirit will help us to not fulfill the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).

We have a choice. We can choose to sin or to not sin. But we must understand if we go on sinning deliberately after knowing the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for our sins but a terrifying expectation of judgment. God is not going to overlook our deliberate sin (Hebrews 10-26-27).

Isaiah 59:1-2 tells us God’s arm is not too short to save us, and His ears are not too dull to hear us, but our sins cause a separation between us and God. David wrote of the intense agony and pain of being separated from God in sin. But David knew that He could be forgiven. He did not escape punishment, but God did forgive Him.

Our Scripture passage tells us that even in our sin, God will save us. We don’t have to clean ourselves up to come to God. We only need to cry out to Him. We only need to admit we have sinned and believe in Him. We need to confess our sins and know He is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

If you have found yourself bogged down in the quagmire of sin, know that He is just a cry away. Call out to God. Surrender to Him. Confess your sins and He will get you cleaned up and good as new. Trust in Him today.

Have a great day!