If you check on the internet (or in the library) for “self-help” information you will discover that there is an endless list of books, articles and talks on the subject. Some book titles include, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”; “Twelve Rules for Life”; “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living”; “Think and Grow Rich”, and the list goes on and on!
I have read some of these types of books with various degrees of satisfaction, but in the end, and particularly for the more complex issues in life, self-help is often no help at all. Something (or Someone) else is required.
The psalmist who wrote Psalm 130 understood this truth. He wrote:
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;
2 Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.
A key phrase in verse 1 which describes the psalmist’s situation is that he is crying to God out of the depths. In other words, his situation is dire. He is in real trouble and in despair. He is floundering, unsure which way to turn.
Psalm 69:1-3 describes the situation in greater detail as follows:
Save me, O God,
for the waters have come up to my neck.
2 I sink in the miry depths,
where there is no foothold.
I have come into the deep waters;
the floods engulf me.
3 I am worn out calling for help;
my throat is parched.
My eyes fail,
looking for my God.
Kidner comments:
“What is clear in all such passages is that self-help is no answer to the depths of distress, however useful it may be in the shallows of self-pity.” (# 29)
So, the question is, just what is the cause of such distress?
Well, the psalmist answers this for us when he writes:
3 If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,
Lord, who could stand?
In the words of Kidner:
“Now the nature of the trouble comes out, as something different from the depression of illness, homesickness or persecution seen in some other Psalms (e.g., Pss. 6, 42,69). Here it is guilt.” (# 29)
Have you ever felt guilty of some thought, action, lifestyle habit or intention in your life? I remember in the middle of reading the New Testament for the first time, prior to becoming a follower of Jesus, sensing that devastating sense of guilt and even worse, not having an answer to what I could do about it. Certainly, here was the case, like the psalmist, when any form of self-help was (and will always be) absolutely useless.
Thank God though, that there is an answer and the psalmist clutches at it with all that he has. He says;
4 But with you [God] there is forgiveness,
so that we can, with reverence, serve you.
Hallelujah!
The Apostle Peter in his first sermon in Acts proclaimed:
Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38)
And Paul wrote:
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ… 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. (Ephesians 1:3, 7)
Speaking of a new covenant (testament) and quoting from Jeremiah 31, the author of Hebrews writes:
10 This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people…
12 For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more. (Hebrews 8:10, 12)
“Forgetting is a human weakness to which God is not subject. God does not forget our sins; rather, he wills to remember them no more, Once forgiven, they will never be brought up again.” (SU notes – Encounter with God)
So, forget about self-help in dealing with your guilt and sin. Cry out to the only One who can help you, because with God alone, there is forgiveness.
Remembering the words of John who wrote:
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9) Amen.
Worship and Wisdom - Psalms and Proverbs 