"A Man in Pain Prays"

PSALMS 38 [A Psalm of David, to bring remembrance.] Moving on from "The Good and the Bad" to "A Man in Pain Prays", I am reminded of the times when I was a child, and I would sometimes pray to God when I felt completely lost or without hope. These were times like when my mother and step dad would be drunk and were fighting, and I would leave the house and climb a tree, or hide in the neighbors bushes; anything to get away from the chaos that was happening in that house. Other times were when I was arrested and locked up in jail, praying to God to get me out of there, and making promises I could not keep. Times like those, I thought were so hard to get through; almost as if they were the end of the world, and if God did not help, then my life was over; but that was the mind of a child. After giving my heart to Jesus, I discovered that the worst pain I could feel in my heart, was the pain of sin dwelling within me; prior to that, sin was a home in my heart, because I was a slave to sin; but once Jesus delivered me from that bondage, sin became something that made my heart ache, making me feel weak and worthless. I have learned over the years, that when I feel like that, it is time for some serious pray; it is time to clean house, and let Jesus clean out all the closets, because there is stuff that I am holding onto, and it is choking out my joy and my peace. Actually, it is not bad practice to do that every morning and every night, because we tend to step in some pretty nasty stuff in our every day lives. The problem that I find with that, is sometimes we tend to like the smell of that stuff, and we are not that quick to want it cleaned off; but the longer it stays, the stronger that odor gets, till our whole body begins stink from the smell of it. That is what sin is in our lives, and it does not belong to be attached to us, because it is stinky and filthy and will ruin our lives; if we have it attached to us, then we must get it off, which Jesus is more than happy to do; that is, if we ask Him to... "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)