Daily Devotion - Psalm 51:1-12

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.  Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.  Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. -Psalm 51:1-12

I love David.  A lot of people think of David as the guy who was strong and courageous and the guy who slew the giant.  I just love his heart.  Sure, he had his short comings.  Here, in this psalm, he's repenting of his sin with Bathsheba after Nathan confronted him.  But it's not one of those 'oops, I got caught' moments.  I really believe here that he just couldn't wait anymore to repent.  It was like a dam that broke loose of repentance.  First, he begs for God's mercy.  He acknowledged himself as a sinner.  He begs to be purged of his sins.  He longs to be in the presence of the Lord again, to have the joy of his salvation, to be renewed in the spirit.

Okay, so what does this have to do with overeating?  Well, here's my train of thought:  I've already established that I believe overeating is a sin (along with anorexia, bulimia or any other extreme measure to be in control of your weight).  It's a stronghold that takes your focus off of God.  And, like any sin, I don't believe that you can be free of overeating unless you are truly broken and repentant.  What changed my heart about my eating habits was that first, I wanted to be a good testimony to God's glory and I don't believe that if you look like you're out of control, you can be a good witness to God's glory.  Second, I realized that there were areas in my life that just weren't being handed over to the Lord and it was affecting my growth in Him.  I asked God for a repentant heart and He is teaching me to eat in subjection to Him, instead of subjection to my fleshly desires and emotions.  I no longer look at something and think 'boy that looks sooo good.'  I haven't opened the refrigerator to go surfing since I started this study.  It's not by my own strength, because I've proven in the past that will power only goes so far.  It's a change in heart that God has granted me because I've asked Him to.

Here's a quote by Spurgeon: "True repentance has a distinct and constant reference to the Lord Jesus Christ.  If you repent of sin without looking to Christ, away with your repentance.  If you are so lamenting your sin as to forget the Savior, you have a need to begin all this work over again.  Whenever we repent of sin, we must have one eye upon sin and another upon the cross;  or, better still, let us have both eyes upon Christ, seeing our sin punished in him, and by no means let us look at sin except as we look at Jesus.  A man may hate sin just as a murderer hates the gallows but this does not prove repentance.  If I hate sin because of the punishment, I have not repented of sin;  I merely regret that God is just.  But if I can see sin as an offense against Jesus Christ, and loathe myself because I have wounded him, then I have a true brokenness of heart.  If I see the Savior and believe that those thorns upon his head were put there by my sinful words;  if I beleive that those wounds in his heart were made by my heart-sins;  if I believe that those wounds in his feet were made by my wandering steps, and that the wounds in his hands were made by my sinful deeds, then I repent after a right fashion.  Only under the cross can you repent.  Repentance elsewhere is remorse, which clings to the sin and only dreads the punishment.  Let us then seek, under God, to have a hatred of sin caused by a sight of Christ's love."

True repentance means to turn fully away from the sin and look at the cross.  You can't be looking back like Lot's wife.  She looked back and died.  You have to keep your eyes on the cross to be freed from the bondage of sin.