Word of Encouragement (6/24/2026)

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye is wasted from grief; my soul and my body also. For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away. (Ps. 31:9-10)‍

The intense grief David describes in this section is over his iniquity (v. 10). Observe the nouns that are used in the description: distress, grief, sorrow, and sighing. Also, observe how he is affected by this grief: he is in distress; his eye is wasted from grief; his soul and body are wasted by grief also; his life is spent with sorrow; his years are spent with sighing; his strength fails him; his bones are wasted away.

Is this what we experience when we sin? If we do not, is it because our sins are small or because our spirits are dull? Doctrinally, we know that even the smallest sin deserves eternal torment. We recognize that not all sins are equally grievous: there are “small” sins and “big” sins. So, if the smallest sin deserves hell, its gravity cannot be about the sin itself, but the infinite honor of God, which we ignore and degrade by violating His commandments, whether in a small way or a big way. But we must admit, knowing this doctrine only with our minds and wholly embracing it with our hearts are not the same. We take our sins too lightly.

David’s description of his grief over sin should challenge us to seriously examine the condition of our hearts. We should not let the dullness of our hearts be the norm. But this is not a call to an endless navel-gazing to make us feel bad about our sins by thinking about how evil our sins are. We said that the gravity of our sins does not lie in our actions themselves (which are evil, make no mistake about it) but in the infinite honor of God. Our problem is not that we don’t know that our sins are evil; we don’t know how wicked they are. We cannot know how wicked our sins are unless we understand the ineffable glory of God’s holiness, purity, and nobility, which is utterly incompatible with sin.

David’s description of his grief serves another function: it is a reminder of what sin does to our spirits, whether or not we experience what David experienced. Unlike other verbs, one verb is used twice—“waste away.” Its meaning is not clear: it can mean “weaken” or “darken,” too. Even though it is used twice, it is applied to multiple things—David’s eye, soul, body, and bones. This verb describes well what sin does to our spirits, whether we feel its impact as intensely as David did: it wastes away our spirits.

We cannot sin and retain our spiritual vitality. It is in sin’s nature to damage and wreak havoc on our souls. We deceive ourselves into thinking that our spiritual life is going well when sins drag us down (Heb. 12:1) like the slime-infested wings of a bird. Can we say that an eagle is doing OK because it is alive when it is stuck to the ground like a chicken? The double danger of sin is that it not only damages us but also deceives us into thinking that we are still doing alright.

How prompt and sincere are you with your repentance?