The Bible knows what\u2019s going on inside of you. It understands the complexity of the human being and penetrates into the deep mental, emotional and moral issues we all deal with. Notice, for example, this insightful passage from King David:<\/p>\n
\u201cMy soul melts from heaviness; strengthen me according to Your word. Remove from me the way of lying, and grant me Your law graciously. I have chosen the way of truth; Your judgments I have laid before me. I cling to Your testimonies; O Lord, do not put me to shame! I will run the course of Your commandments, for You shall enlarge my heart\u201d (Psalm 119:28-32).<\/p>\n
\u201cMy soul melts from heaviness?\u201d You\u2019ve been there, haven\u2019t you? Maybe you\u2019re there now. We carry internal weights. They\u2019re not made of material stuff, but rather of heavy thoughts and feelings. That<\/em> thing you said in a moment of anger that drove an invisible wedge between you and her. That<\/em> deed you did when nobody was looking but now you feel dirty inside. Later in the passage David more specifically pinpoints the thing that\u2019s killing him inside: its \u201cshame,\u201d which is the heaviest weight the human soul can bear. So heavy, in fact, that it makes him feel like his soul is melting<\/em>. The heaviness is debilitating. It causes mental breakage, emotional crippling, even physical deterioration. Overall health and wellbeing are adversely affected when we carry guilt inside. The human being was psychologically designed for innocence, so as long as there is unresolved guilt within us our quality of life is compromised on all levels.<\/p>\n Life gets freer and better in obedience to God\u2019s principles.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In the midst of his meltdown, David looks to the \u201cword\u201d of God for strength. He believes that the crushing power of his shame can be lifted by words from God. Why words? Actually, words are the most powerful currency in circulation. Words are powerful because they generate new trains of thought and shape new ways of feeling. God\u2019s word, if allowed access to our hearts, will override the negative self-incriminating \u201ctapes\u201d that play over and over in our minds.<\/p>\n But David also senses that he is danger of slipping into what he calls \u201cthe lying way.\u201d The fact is, we lie. All of us do. We tell ourselves things about ourselves and about others that accommodate our inclination to evade our guilt. The most common manifestation of \u201cthe lying way\u201d is to deal with shame by judging others. If you are diminished in my estimation, I look better to myself than I really am. David sees in himself the dark tendency toward self-deception and he deliberately asks God to remove it from him. So should you and I.<\/p>\n Finally, David understands that living life in harmony with God\u2019s commandments is liberating and expansive in its effect upon the human being. Within God’s law there is space to \u201crun.\u201d His law does not restrict our life-capacities, but rather increases them. Remember, under the influence of his shame David felt \u201cheaviness,\u201d as if his soul was melting away. But now he says to God, \u201cYou shall enlarge my heart.\u201d Emotional capacities expand rather that restrict within God\u2019s ways. Our range of relational mobility increases. We become more, not less. Life gets freer and better in obedience to God\u2019s principles. \u201cSubjection to God is restoration to one\u2019s self\u2014to the true glory and dignity of man\u201d (Ellen White, The Desire of Ages<\/em>, p. 466).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Bible knows what\u2019s going on inside of you. It understands the complexity of the human being and penetrates into the deep…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[74,78,79],"class_list":["post-6998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-devotional","tag-freedom","tag-guilt","tag-shame"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/How_to_Be_Free_from_Guilt.jpg?fit=2560%2C1440&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paAh8r-1OS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6998"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11853,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6998\/revisions\/11853"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}