Guilt

I can see I’ve offended you. 

 

Have you been there before? Knowing that you have done something that has hurt someone else or let them down? There is a feeling that comes with this. 

 

Guilt. 

 

It’s an ugly, lonely feeling. It can control you and hijack your thoughts. 

 

When we have guilt, we become ashamed. Not wanting to show our face. 

 

It can cause us to retreat, and push people away.  

 

But did you know that guilt can be healthy. It causes us to re-evaluate and make different decisions. It can even bring about growth and change. We’ve made the word guilty so obnoxious and painful. But really, guilt is a response to admitting we’ve done wrong. Whether intentionally or not, guilt admits we’ve failed to meet an expectation. 

 

There is extreme health to acknowledging guilt. It brings resolution. Without the recognition of guilt, we will never have reconciliation. It’s an important, healthy, feeling. 

 

But does God want us to live in guilt? Or is that something working against us? 

 

David writes the 143rd Psalm about this. He is in a time of feeling great sorry and misery. He says, 

 

Lord, hear my prayer, 

Listen to my cry for mercy; 

In your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief. 

Do not bring your servant into judgment, 

For no one living is righteous before you. 

 

He is pleading with God. Don’t judge me solely on what is right. I have failed. But who doesn’t fail! Who is perfect nougat to be righteous before God? 

 

But listen to how he describes the next part. 

 

The enemy’s pursues me, 

He crushes me to the ground;

He makes me dwell in the darkness like those long dead. 

So my spirit grows faint within me; 

My heart within me is dismayed. 

 

What is he experiencing? 

 

Guilt!