Shipwrecked

Who can discern his errors?
Declare me innocent from hidden faults. 
 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me! 
Psalm 19:12-13

A dear brother in one of the prison units asked if I would share about what David meant about the sin of presumption.  I always thought it meant sin you do out of ignorance but the more I began to study the word about it, I couldn't be more wrong about that. What he was really saying was for God to keep Him from outright rebellion. 

God has put within us a knowledge of right and wrong and a presumptuous sin is a sin that disregards that inner conscience. It is where you know something is wrong but you set your heart to go in that direction anyway. One of your most prized possessions is your conscience! It is there to help you and guide you what is right and wrong to help you make right decisions.

The sin of presumption is a sin against your own conscience and it is a serious thing. 1st Timothy 1:5 says;

 Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

Here Paul is saying that everything his teaching is working toward is to produce love, true faith and a good conscience. He goes on to say in verse 18;

 This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;

 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:

Here he is saying there are some that have compromised the light of conscience within them and some having done so have become, "shipwrecked" in their faith. They no longer listened to their conscience and were walking in outright rebellion to the faith. Paul said he turned such men over to Satan so that they might learn not to blaspheme. 

How many of us would have been delivered or kept from a bad situation had we only listened to conscience. Sometimes the Lord uses Godly friends and family to speak to your conscience and warn or guide you.  It's dangerous to disregard Godly counsel when we know it is bearing witness with our conscience. 

Consider Proverbs 1:20-31 where God is trying to speak to us....

20 Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:

21 She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,

22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?

23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.

24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;

25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:

26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.

28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord:

30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.

31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

There is coming a day in every one of our lives when we are going to die. Then we will see every time God extended His hand in love and we refused Him. 

There is a passage in 1st Corinthians 10:13 which says;

 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Don't harden your heart today if the Lord is speaking to you through your conscience or even the Godly counsel of others. 

The sin of presumption is to ignore your conscience, to ignore Godly counsel and it's a deliberate act of the heart.

David knew he was capable of willful sins and so he cried out to the Lord for help.

Throughout this brief blog has the Lord convicted you of any presumptuous sin? Have you become shipwrecked in your faith? Ask God to help you and restore tenderness to your heart.

Today if God is speaking to your heart don't disregard the commandments of God or His counsel.  Today is the day of your salvation and remember, obedience to God's ways always leads to righteousness and assurance with God.

 Sin always leads to death and leaves a path of suffering and destruction in our lives and the lives of others. Today while there is hope, repent and walk in obedience to God's counsel and instruction.  

                  Faithful are the wounds of a friend,
            But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.

                                               Proverbs 27:6

For further study today, consider this podcast: