Ex-Con
“O LORD, rebuke me not in Your wrath, and chasten me not in Your burning anger.” Psalm 38:1 NASB
Rebuke– “Rebuke me not.” The verb is yākaḥ. To convict. To judge. To reprove. Perhaps the translation does not give us the fullest appreciation of David’s plea. Literally, “YHVH, not to me in your wrath convict.” Don’t bring the gavel down. Don’t declare the case closed. Don’t issue the sentence. David chooses a Hebrew word that vividly describes the failure of an intensely personal relationship. yākaḥ is a word that belongs in the courts of law. The judge sits behind the bench, hearing the evidence. This is no trial by jury. The judge will decide the fate of the accused and his verdict is final. David pleads, “YHVH, the great Judge of the universe, do not issue your verdict based on my failure to perform the duty you expected of me.” yākaḥ is a frightening word for us. It is a word that allows no appeal. When we know our sin, when we know that we stand guilty before the high court of creation, yākaḥ can mean only one thing. David sees his life unfolded before the Lord. He sees the smallest indiscretion and the largest rebellion. He sees it all, from the misspoken words to the adultery and murder. yākaḥ hangs over his head like the guillotine.
Jonathan Edwards once preached the sermon, “Sinners in the hands of an angry God.” This example of colonial ecclesiology used to be required reading in American history. Today it has passed into obscurity, along with a culture that has any fear of qeṣep (wrath) and yākaḥ. When sin disappears over the moral horizon, so does the fear of God. Wrath and judgment sink with the setting sun. But they are not gone. They are only out of sight until the scorching light of the new day dawns. Unless we cry out with David during the dark night of the soul, that new day will come blazing with both wrath and judgment. Tonight, when we feel the hand of God pressing in the dark, our cries must reveal the desperation of the guilty begging for mercy. In the dark we must confront the hideous nightmares of our transgressions. There is no profit in pretending that forgiveness yesterday wipes away our need for God’s unmerited abstention today. Forgiveness is a moment-by-moment reprieve based on God’s unwavering character. Forgiveness is His decision, not mine, and I am very glad for that. Were forgiveness based on my adherence to the trust relationship presupposed by qeṣep, my dark night would end in a moral nuclear holocaust. God tells me that He will not change His mind about His love for me, but that does not mean that I can stand before Him claiming my justification. The righteous are so because of God’s faithfulness. By (His) faith the righteous will live.
Have you shared David’s nightmare of guilt? Or did you let righteous terror slip away like a phantom? Did you confront that hideous strength deep within and plead before the Lord of all, “Don’t convict me.” I want to be an ex-con in the Greek sense, one who is excused and who has exited from judgment.
Topical Index: yākaḥ, qeṣep, rebuke, convict, wrath, Psalm 38:1
I’m not sure I want to be an ex-con in any sense of the word, Greek or Hebrew. I may be ‘excused and exited from judgment’ having served my time or having it served for me in a Christian understanding of atonement and justification, but to be an ex-con in this or any society is to be continually reminded of my past transgressions by being on placed on parole or probation, being forever stigmatized by the public record and private recall, losing certain citizenship privileges like voting, owning a firearm, obtaining certain licences, etc. Not to mention the social stigmatization, the discrimination, recrimination and status reclaimation, lack of employability, difficult family reintegration, etc. No, what I want, and desperately need, is an executive pardon, the slate wiped clean, all records expunged, my name restored and my life back. Isn’t this what is promised by and through Yeshua or should I keep the ankle monitor on and be a proud ex-con? Signed, Confused in Cell Block C.
Great points Michael. I’m looking forward to that as well. Unfortunately no amount of forgiveness has yet assuaged the consequences I face each and every day for my past sins. My conscience is clear however as I wait in obedience and expectant hope for the world to come when every tear will be wiped away. Until then I do consider myself on a probation (of sorts) but not without hope because my Father in heaven’s name is above everything merciful and gracious. I praise and thank my Messiah Yeshua for the blood he shed for the cleansing from all of that and more.
Michael, when God says, “I will remember your sins no more,” I believe He means it. He said this, one way or another, in several places in the Bible. No, you don’t need an ankle monitor. Yeshua has a tug on your heart, and that is more than enough!
Outstanding post, Michael. Yes…it’s the executive pardon we are all hoping for. Isn’t that what Yeshua (our advocate) is pleading for on behalf of those who belong to Him. Hallelujah!!
It’s a grand mistake to suppose we can continue to sin
because we’ve been forgiven before. Actually, it’s God’s will
that we sin no more.
But it’s only those who repentantly KNOW Him who have a chance.
“Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you
know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him
is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues
to sin has either seen him or known him.” 1 Jn 3:4-6
It’s a high bar. It’s a higher thought that it’s even achievable . . . unless we
place our faith squarely on Him.
Why don’t people fear the wrath of God today? Is it because we have succeeded in totally supplanting dependence upon Him with substitutes? I fear the displeasure of anyone I am looking to for something; it interferes with getting what I need from them! Self reliance as well as promised social safety nets alike serve to convince us that God is optional: icing on a very human cake. What if we lost all of our safety nets as well as our ability to depend upon ourselves for daily needs? Would we then attempt to turn to Him and, subsequently be concerned with whether or not we are pleasing Him if we felt we needed His favor in our daily lives?
I question Leonard Cohen’s theology, but he can put things well. In the song, Suzanne, he sings
“And Jesus was a sailor when he walked upon the water
And he spent a long time watching from his lonely wooden tower
And when he knew for certain only drowning men could see him
He said all men will be sailors then until the sea shall free them”
What if we sought to avoid the wrath of God by substituting reliance upon ourselves, but it was at the expense of all the motivation that our true condition (which is undeniably drowning) had for making us care about whether or not He was upset about where we were at (or not) with Him? Isn’t it about time for lightning to strike the tower we have been building and the alternate systems we have invented for confederating with each other got scrambled enough to dump us back into the water of reality where we have been drowning all along? Wake up time?
Isn’t God mad because we are drowning without Him? Isn’t it time we quit grasping at straws and started cooperating with the will of Him who has the real faith in us (like Skip points out) that we so desperately need? Time to quit making up the rules and determining what is ‘right’ each and every moment and instead start asking Him what He wants? It should be obvious by now that we haven’t got a clue! That is a situation that would make anybody who cared about us mad!
We only find out that we actually ARE expressing faith, when we can’t supply for ourselves and still keep going towards Him when going away would be ‘answered prayer’ in the situation. That makes the ‘anticipation of the promise as real through practice and hope 3 dimensional instead of 4 letters arranged at random. As real as it gets, instead of opting out for the world panacea of addictions to self and all the debasement that circles us and goes in for the kill of our spiritual life. We only find our place in Creation when plucked out of those seas of preying and preyed upon. Newness of life given to us and chosen by us, daily. Blessings. FJ
It’s not possible for me to read this scripture and not see that David is acknowledging the depth and quality of the relationship he has had with his God, by simply using the name of God. From shepherd to King, David has experienced an intimacy with his God that has grown and strengthened. And as this verse continues, and his petition is spoken, it seems that David is showing his own sense of his awareness of the depth of depravity his sin reveals, the violence it’s done to that relationship, and it’s stench in his own nostrils. And I have to ask myself, is that the depth of relationship I’m in with my God? A familiarity generated by the depth of its intimacy. Can I call out to Him by that name? And do I see my sin that way?
I am reminded of those times either my wife or I called the other by our first names, and how affirming it was about our relationship no matter the substance of what followed. The effect was different from “Honey, I have something to tell you.”
I do have a question. Is the psalmists language construction and word usage asking that he not be rebuked or chastened at all, implying that wrath and burning anger is always connected to that? Or, can he be acknowledging, he has rebuke and chastening coming, just don’t do it in wrath or burning anger?
I appreciate any light you shine in that.
I think the latter is probably the intent. Wrath and burning anger are connected with God’s judgment, but He more often forgives even when judgment is due. The idea the the God of the Old Testament is vengeful just isn’t supported by the text. David is asking for mercy when he knows he doesn’t deserve it. He is asking because he know God’s character.