“Remember, O Lord, your compassion and unfailing love, which you have shown from long ages past. Do not remember the rebellious sins of my youth. Remember me in the light of your unfailing love, for you are merciful, O Lord.”
Psalm 25:6-7 NLT
Oh dear! Those youthful years, teenage challenges and sins, trial and error, hormonal changes. Years spent casting around for meaning and morals, years marked by rebellion against anyone in authority, including parents. Difficult years, as an adult desperately tried to emerge from a child into the light of further education or employment. Oh dear! Those youthful years. Why did David ask God not to “remember the rebellious sins of [his] youth”? Because he, like us, still had the memories lurking in the dark recesses of his mind, always ready to emerge and cause pain. “If only I hadn’t …” is a thought that surfaces if we let it, bringing shame and regrets in the process. So David, like us, committed “rebellious sins” in his youth.
Of course, we pilgrims have confessed all our sins. We read and followed 1 John 1:9, “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness”. So the sins of our rebellious youth have been forgiven and dealt with, and if we ask God to forgive us for them again, then His reply is “What sins”? We remember the verse, “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12), which is a good way of saying that God had wiped our sin-slate clean. So why did David bring it all up once again? Probably for the same reason we do, but perhaps David’s approach was better, because he made a statement, written down to remind him and perhaps God that his sins were not to be remembered.
But what were those rebellious sins? They are not just limited to those tender in years. There are many who behave like children all their lives, and we see such people represented in our political and business classes today. Isaiah wrote, ““What sorrow awaits my rebellious children,” says the Lord. “You make plans that are contrary to mine. You make alliances not directed by my Spirit, thus piling up your sins”. Those who watch the goings-on in the UK parliaments will see increasing secularism dominating the proceedings, the Christian roots of British society long forgotten, binned with all thoughts of Heavenly morality, and, as a consequence, their sins “piling up”. It’s not a democratic and God-less state that we need but instead one based on the principles of the Kingdom of God, and a population embracing revival once again. Thankfully, one day God will rule and reign here on earth, firstly Jesus for a thousand years, and then God Himself in the New Jerusalem that we read of in Revelation 21. There is no democracy in God’s Kingdom.
We pilgrims are never rebellious of course. Well, never rebellious to God, although we might rebel against the God-less laws that are infiltrating our societies. So we will sometimes find fellow believers demonstrating against laws that conflict with God’s Word. We are led by the Holy Spirit in our day-by-day lives and with His wisdom we navigate the secularism so prevalent. We are like guerrillas, believers infiltrating the kingdom of darkness, seeking to disrupt the works of the devil, and doing what we can to promote the Kingdom of Light. The going is tough sometimes, because the forces of darkness want to close us down, but we are on the winning side.
Rebellion and sin are close bedfellows, because the focus is against God and His ways. And we remember what Paul wrote in Romans 8:5-6, “Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace”. We pilgrims are led by the Holy Spirit, and through our relationship with Him, the “rebellious sins of youth”, or at any other stage in life, will disappear. We dedicate our lives to God and he will lead us in His ways.
Dear Father God. Once again we thank You for cleansing us from all our sins. We commit our lives to You, this day and every day for the rest of our lives. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 