Coming to Grips with Guilt

REFLECTION QUOTES

“I have been accustomed to call this book…‘An Anatomy of all the Parts of the Soul’; for there is not an emotion of which any one can be conscious that is not here represented as in a mirror.”

~John Calvin (1509-1564) on the Psalms

“My sin was all the more incurable because I thought I was not a sinner; and…I would rather have you, God Almighty, vanquished in me to my destruction, than myself vanquished by you for my salvation.”

~St. Augustine (354-430) in his book Confessions

“Great! Now I have guilt!”

~ Rex in “Toy Story” (1995)

“Negative emotions like loneliness, envy, and guilt have an important role to play in a happy life; they’re big, flashing signs that something needs to change.”

~Gretchen Rubin, American author and blogger

“Guilt is cancer. Guilt will confine you, torture you, destroy you as an artist. It’s a black wall. It’s a thief.”

~Dave Grohl, former drummer of Nirvana and founder of Foo Fighters

“Guilt is perhaps the most painful companion of death.”

~Coco Chanel (1883-1971), French fashion designer

“No work or love will flourish out of guilt, fear, or hollowness of heart, just as no valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.”

~Alan Watts (1915-1973), British-born philosopher

“The real problem with the miserable Christian is that he has never truly been made miserable because of the conviction of sin. He has bypassed the essential preliminary to joy.”

~Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981), London pastor

SERMON PASSAGE

Psalm 38

1 O Lord, rebuke me not in Your wrath,
And chasten me not in Your burning anger.

2 For Your arrows have sunk deep into me,
And Your hand has pressed down on me.

3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation;
There is no health in my bones because of my sin.

4 For my iniquities are gone over my head;
As a heavy burden they weigh too much for me.

5 My wounds grow foul and fester
Because of my folly.

6 I am bent over and greatly bowed down;
I go mourning all day long.

7 For my loins are filled with burning,
And there is no soundness in my flesh.

8 I am benumbed and badly crushed;
I groan because of the agitation of my heart.



9 Lord, all my desire is before You;
And my sighing is not hidden from You.

10 My heart throbs, my strength fails me;
And the light of my eyes, even that has gone from me.

11 My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague;
And my kinsmen stand afar off.

12 Those who seek my life lay snares for me;
And those who seek to injure me have threatened destruction,
And they devise treachery all day long.

13 But I, like a deaf man, do not hear;
And I am like a mute man who does not open his mouth.

14 Yes, I am like a man who does not hear,
And in whose mouth are no arguments.

15 For I hope in You, O Lord;
You will answer, O Lord my God.

16 For I said, “May they not rejoice over me,
Who, when my foot slips, would magnify themselves against me.”

17 For I am ready to fall,
And my sorrow is continually before me.

18 For I confess my iniquity;
I am full of anxiety because of my sin.

19 But my enemies are vigorous and strong,
And many are those who hate me wrongfully.

20 And those who repay evil for good,
They oppose me, because I follow what is good.

21 Do not forsake me, O Lord;
O my God, do not be far from me!

22 Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation!