Complete Repentance Requires Help

"Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me. Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation.” (Ps 38:21-22 AV)

These words were uttered by David at a time of sinful failure.  At least, that is how he felt.  We don’t know exactly what the occurrence was.  In reality, it doesn’t matter.  The fact David feared God’s abandonment over his sin is what matters.  We have all been there.  God has promised never to leave nor forsake us.  And He won’t.  But that doesn’t mean our relationship will be intimate.  God doesn’t abandon as much as He can become distant.  I don’t blame Him.  We hear His word and then do the opposite.  Why wouldn’t He be a bit distant?  This might be proven by that second phrase, “be not far from me”.  God doesn’t leave.  He simply retires to a distance.  What is important here is the conclusion of David’s prayer.  He seeks help.  Earlier in the psalm, David confesses his faults.  Rather than confess and forsake, leaving it at that, he seeks God’s help to overcome whatever ails him.  It is not enough to confess and forsake.  If we are serious with God, then we must seek His help to overcome the sin that has estranged us.

To be able to rely on someone whom we have failed to overcome is something special.  Most would reject such a request.  If I am injured by another, helping them to overcome their habit of injuring me might not be something I would be willing to do.  There is a common tragedy that plays out in many of the addicted.  They seek help from their loves ones to overcome their addiction, but many times, it is manipulation for more resources so they can continue in their addiction.  Those addicted lie and steal to feed their addiction.  When loved ones do try to help, more times than not, they are used and discarded at the hands of the one whom they are trying to help.  Often, the only answer is to let someone like that hit the wall.  They have to come to the end of themselves before any escape can be had.  I have counseled many families who have an addict in their lives.  Resentment and anger are often the result.  Abandonment is not too far off.  They simply do not want anything to do with an addict, even if they fully recover.  Their patience is limited.  Their love has constraints.  They give and give, but there comes a time when there is nothing left to give.  They become emotionally distant and unreconcilable.  It is rather sad.

God is the ultimate victim of addiction.  His creation is addicted to sin.  We do as we please and then seek forgiveness afterward.  We use Him when we need Him, but if the flesh is greater, then we abandon Him.  David is seeking help.  He knows he has offended God.  He knows he doesn’t deserve God’s love.  He knows he has injured God.  He knows God is offended.  But he has the sense to know God is his only help.  He is seeking the LORD’s help, not that he might cease for his own sake.  Rather, he seeks God’s help because he has offended God.  He wants liberty from sin for God’s glory.  Seeking the help of God is a big step in overcoming sin.  Knowing we cannot do so ourselves, seeking the LORD’s help is both wise and humble.  David is showing us the way, here.  He is teaching us that if we are to live for the LORD, we can only do so with His help.  So, repentance is more than confession and forsaking.  It is concluded in seeking and gaining the LORD’s help to overcome.