Imagine a scenario in a courtroom with CCTV cameras where a repeat offender is awaiting his sentence for grand larceny. The judge scheduled to pronounce his sentence is a renowned, fair but unconventional judge who has a reputation for surprising participants in her courtroom. Just yesterday, she gave a murderer an unusually light sentence because of the extent of his remorse.
The judge was reviewing briefing papers in her chambers when she observed a commotion on the monitor featuring her court room. Apparently, the accused had in a surprise move, grabbed an officer’s baton and swung it at his defense attorney. Upon questioning, he admitted that he had planned his move carefully and that he was aware the judge could see him. It appeared he was not happy at something his victim had said to him during the last sitting, two days earlier.
Given that he was not known to have any mental health issues, the courtroom observers were left wondering how moronic this guy was. Knowing fully well that the judge would see him, he had defiantly planned and carried out his desire to cause bodily harm to his counsel and prompted chaos in the court room. This was not a spontaneous outburst, so one could excuse his temperament as a personality trait, no, this was a pre-meditated assault.
Further interrogation revealed that he did not think his attack could make his case and sentencing that much worse because he had heard that the judge was a merciful judge who believed in always giving offenders multiple chances to be reformed. After all, it was just yesterday that a murderer got away with a very light sentence. Well, he had not killed anyone! was his indignant defense.
In any courtroom, voluntary, pre-meditated offences always get a stiffer penalty. Well, we can infer that is also the case at the Throne of The Most High as King David must have found out. A favored son of God, David had been blessed beyond imagination and he loved the Lord as evident in his written songs. Yet, so determined was he to satisfy the lust that crept into his heart, that he who sang loudly about the majesty and omnipresence of God, lost his reverence (holy fear) and orchestrated a murder.
We know Jesus died for our sins because God loves us so much but God also hates all sin. He wants us to continually strive for holiness with the help of His Spirit; even as He acknowledges our human weaknesses and concedes that in our mortal bodies, we will succumb to sin from time to time. Our perfection will only come after we have given up our earthly bodies.
It is not far-fetched to then imagine how we must grieve God when our sins are not spur of the moment or due to some inherent weakness of ours; but rather pre-meditated and carefully schemed out as if He is no longer all-seeing. How can we pray for protection everywhere we go because we know God is everywhere, but then deliberately and defiantly devise a plan to sin while He is still looking on? Worse still, how can we not feel any remorse about this deviant sin and then come back to ask for more blessings and protection as if He chose to take a nap while we sinned?
In his contrition, David went on to pen the most famous penitent words ever written (Psalm 51). Realizing that sin stains our souls and knowing that inward purity matters more to God than any demonstration of outward virtues, it was not enough for him to ask to be washed clean and purified or cleansed thoroughly. No, he cried out to the Creator of the universe to create a new heart for him because the heart that conjured up such a cold-blooded plan was a dead heart.
We know the motive for every action, good or bad, lies in the heart. Fittingly, it is only our Creator that is able to scrutinize the hearts of men and judge why or how our actions came about. ‘God sees my heart’ is an often muttered protest, we do well to remember that He not only sees it, he is judging it.
Jesus wants to be King of our hearts, and while all sins wound Him all over again, it is safe to guess that it is the defiant, deliberate or voluntary sin that must cut the deepest. As we strive for holiness every day of our lives, may our consciences never become dulled and our minds never become closed to the awe of an all-seeing God.
‘Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part, Thou shall make me know wisdom”. Psalm 51:6
A sin of infirmity may admit apology; a sin of ignorance may find out excuse; but a sin of defiance can find no defence. – Sir Richard Baker (Treasury of David)
Hilltop Thoughts, Valley Strengths 