Martin Luther once considered David's great prayer of confession, Psalm 51, composed after he had committed adultery and murder.
David, Luther noted, prayed as soon as the prophet Nathan had confronted him with sin. This contrasts with those who fail to approach God because they feel that their sins--even their temptations--make them too objectionable to come into the presence of God.
"At precisely the moment when you feel the strongest temptation and are least prepared to pray," Luther says, "go to a place where you can be alone. Pray the Lord's Prayer or any other prayer you can think of to defend against the devil and his temptations. Then you will feel the temptation decrease and Satan will run away...Waiting [because you think you're too impure to approach God] is an unchristian approach to prayer. It's a teaching that comes from the devil..."
As David's confessional psalm shows us, we need to approach God as soon as we're aware that we have sinned as well. Luther writes, "The time when you feel your sins the most is exactly the time when you most need to pray to God."
Jesus, when asked why He spent so much time with notorious sinners, explained that it wasn't those who were well who needed Him as their physician, but those who were sick with sin.
Similarly, if you and I wait to be "clean" of sin or its allurements to approach God, we never will come to God and only grow sicker. The time to go to God for protection from temptation is when it's hitting you hardest. The time to approach God for forgiveness is the very moment you've come to your senses with the realization that you've sinned.
No comments:
Post a Comment