"When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat."
Psa. 32:3-4 (NLT)
Confession seems to be a lost art in the evangelical world. Quite honestly I hear that word and it conjures up images of a Catholic confession box from the movies with a priest listening to my pious utterances and absolving me from something he has no business absolving me from, or any control over. I can't tell you the last time I heard a sermon on the art of confession probably because we don't enjoy telling others about the junk in our own lives. And yet, scripture identifies a potential reason for ill health in our lives if we refuse to confess our sin.
The last time you experienced groan-evoking bodily pain did the thought "this pain may be a result of sin in my life" even cross your mind? I read the verse from above and am prompted to recognize there are consequences for not confessing sin. This truth may sound cold and hard but I think it needs to be said. I'm humbled to recognize I don't always think this clearly either. I'm quick to chalk the pain up to some other less vulnerable reason for my discomfort. Even as a representative of God I sometimes fail to recognize the promptings of God in my own life. Yet God isn't causing this "body wasted away" discomfort as the end-all. No, he lovingly wants to correct me and bring me back to Himself.
Confession is necessary because it humbles us before God and other human beings. It is humbling, embarrassing, and vulnerable to let another human being know about my sin, but in that low place then I can find God. Or perhaps more accurately, God can join me.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:18
Good observations and advice. And how freeing to confess and obtain mercy from God, and if necessary from others!
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