Penitential Psalms

You've blown it. Again. The same sin. Again. And what's worse, it's bugging you less each time - and that bugs you. You worry that you're becoming insensitive to sin, and you worry that you'll never get this sin behind you. To be honest with yourself, you're really not all that motivated to repent. Again. What do you do?

Been there? I have.

There is no easy fix to persistent sin. If I found an easy fix, I could make a fortune on book rights. But there is one thing that I've found that helps. It helps rekindle the sensitivity to sin, and it has even helped rekindle the desire to repent. When I'm stuck in this kind of situation, I like to read the penitential psalms.

The penitential psalms (6, 25, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143 - depending on whose list you follow) are those psalms in which the psalmist confesses his own sin. Several are by David, but a few are by other psalmists. For whatever reasons, these men wrote psalms as part of how they processed through the sin itself. And we are the benefactors of them pouring our their hearts to the Lord.

When I'm stuck in that rut, I slowly read through each psalm, and reread them, until my hard heart begins to melt. I can't make it melt, but reading God's Word often does have that effect. Eventually, my resistance to prayer and confession eases away, and before too long, I'm in prayer with the Lord about my sin. Again.

This is not a miracle sure. If you approach this like a recipe, it won't "work." But if you turn to God's Word with the sense of just dwelling there until God softens your heart, I have found it to be very helpful. This won't necessarily "cure" you from ever committing the sin again. It may be an approach that does nothing you at all. As a fellow traveler, this is one thing that has benefited me.

Write down these psalm numbers in your Bible. I put all of my on the page with Psalm 51, because that's the psalm that speaks to me most about repentance. I know where to turn to in order to find my list of all the other penitential psalms.