Pastor Fredo Ramos: For whatever reason, I have always struggled to pray. And so as this new year begins and as many of you think about new routines that you wanna give yourself to, especially for those of you who follow Jesus, I wanna invite you to learn to pray the Psalms with us. It's a practice I picked up years ago that really saved, my ability to learn to pray, to speak to God honestly about how I was feeling and what I was thinking. And so every single day on sandalschurch.tv on YouTube, we're gonna be releasing, praying the Psalms, a psalm a day. We started in January 1st and every day you're gonna get a new psalm, but the opportunity to read the psalm with us, to reflect on a phrase, and then to respond to God in prayer, how to pray through the Psalms.
This has been a gift to me in my own journey with Jesus. I pray that it's a gift to you, and so would you join us. Grace and peace.
Pastor Fredo Ramos: We continue praying the Psalms, and today we come to Psalm 38, another Psalm of David and he writes, oh Lord don't rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your rage. Your arrows have struck deep and your blows are crushing me. Because of your anger my whole body is sick. My health is broken because of my sins. Notice that there's a connection between his physical health and his spiritual guilt.
Verse 4, my guilt overwhelms me. It's a burden too heavy to bear. My wounds fester and stink because of my foolish sins. I am bent over and wracked with pain. All day long, I walk around filled with grief.
A raging fever burns within me, and my health is broken. This is a vivid prayer. I am exhausted, completely crushed. My groans come from an anguished heart. You know what I long for, Lord.
You hear my every side. My heart beats wildly. My strength fails and I am going blind. My loved ones and friends stay away, fearing my disease. Even my own family stands at a distance.
Meanwhile, my enemies lay, traps to kill me. Those who wish me harm make plans to ruin me. Verse 13. I am deaf to all of their threats. I am silent before them as one who cannot speak.
I choose to hear nothing and I make no reply. He's made a vow of silence it looks like. Verse 15. We get the reasons. For I am waiting for you, oh Lord.
You must answer for me, oh Lord my God. I pray don't let my enemies gloat over me. I am on the verge of collapse facing constant pain, but I confess my sins to you. Notice the detail of verse 18. I am deeply sorry for what I have done.
I have many aggressive enemies. They hate me without reason. They repay me evil for good and oppose me for pursuing good. Don't abandon me, oh Lord. Don't stand at a distance, my God.
Come quickly to help me, oh Lord, my savior. What a Psalm. It's clear that there's a vivid frustration David has over his own sin. Over his own guilt. Many people in studying Psalm 38 have noticed maybe a connection between a physical illness David has, and this deep inner guilt that he's facing.
He even notes that God is potentially angry. He notes that people have kind of, you know, stood at a distance from Him. He's chosen this vow of silence. I just want to draw the attention there to verse 18. I confess my sins, and I am deeply sorry for what I have done.
You know, for whatever reason, there are days where we just kind of come to ourselves in the morning or just kind of go about our day, and we're just wracked with guilt. Even as Christians, even maybe for those of you who have been walking with Jesus for a number of years, and for whatever reason today, you are you're sensing your own guilt. And and maybe even a more in a more severe way like that guilt has actually led to a kind of like physical illness for you. And I just want you to know that there is immense hope for us today in praying this prayer of David. To simply say, God, don't abandon me.
And would you would you come quickly to help me? And notice that last verse, Oh, Lord, my savior. David is clear, and we are even more clear knowing that David's great great grandson, Jesus is our savior. And so as heavy as you might be feeling today with guilt, for whatever reason, even to the point of feeling sick, would you just pray, God come quickly to me. And, and confess sin, not just as like a duty, but also confess the ways that you're sorry for what's been done.
Right? There's kind of, not just an acknowledging of what you've done, but there's also a sense of, I don't like this anymore. I am grieved by this kind of behavior, this kind of sin, and I want you to come quickly to my help. Lord Jesus, we hear that invitation, and we wanna respond now in prayer, with our own desire to be forgiven yet again today. And would you remove this guilt?
Would we place once again our faith in you Jesus as our savior, the one who will come quickly to us? And I pray for anyone who's listening and watching this, that they would experience a unique relief from their guilt, and maybe even a healing over whatever illness is also plaguing them too. Would you do this quickly, Lord? In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.