Just a 'stupid sin'

Are you a map or GPS user? Do you wing it based on the direction of the sun or other landmarks you recognize? I do a little bit of each of these - sometimes recognizing a landmark right off and knowing where I need to turn, while listening intently to the GPS or map's directions to know exactly where to exit a roadway for another. We all need directions - no one of us is able to continually know the right direction to follow all of the time. Things change around us in spite of every effort we might take to keep them the same - so we oftentimes need to have a new course set as those landmarks and way-finding points are no longer 'valid'. How will we find our way? The answer to that question is the most telling in regards to where it is we will likely end up!

There’s more: God’s Word warns us of danger and directs us to hidden treasure. Otherwise how will we find our way? Or know when we play the fool? Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh! Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over your work; Then I can start this day sun-washed, scrubbed clean of the grime of sin. These are the words in my mouth; these are what I chew on and pray. Accept them when I place them on the morning altar, O God, my Altar-Rock, God, Priest-of-My-Altar. (Psalm 19:14)

I like the part in our passage today where our psalmist asks God to keep him from 'stupid sins' and from 'thinking he can take over God's work'. If there were two prayers I need to pray every single day - those are the two! I step out without seeking God's direction and fall into stupid pitfalls - avoidable completely if I had just waited for the wisdom of God to show me. I certainly get ahead of his plans, thinking I have them all figured out. So...I need to ask God to keep me from doing dumb stuff and to help me stay in step with him - how about you?

How do we start each day fresh? We ask God for a clean slate. We don't just live like we expected to 'play the fool' with a 'damb the torpedos, full speed ahead' kind of attitude the day before. We need to ask God each day for the wisdom to live as we should and if we slip up a bit, ask for a clean slate each day so we don't carry yesterday's mess ups into days possibilities. Clean slates happen because someone takes the time to remove every grimy reminder of the thing that was there before. God is the only one who can remove EVERY reminder - so bring your good and bad parts of the day to him - let him do what he does best. He will magnify the good and clean away the bad.

All sin is 'stupid', but there are some sins we know very will we are not to engage in and we do them anyway. Those are the ones I kind of label as 'stupid' - because if we knew not to engage in them and did it anyway we are being played as a fool. We lack good judgment and sometimes even common sense! God doesn't reject the fool - he works to change the mindset (and heart-set) of the fool. The fool is really one who never recognizes their 'stupid sin'. The wise is the one who recognizes when they have played the fool and pursued the wrong stuff - making a swift confession to God of their 'stupid sin'. In turn, God cleans the slate - removing EVERY sign of that folly. Just sayin!