When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.  For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide;  I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD;”  And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Psalm 32:3-5 

I mentioned before that a bog is an inland lake which has been overtaken by peat and sphagnum moss.  The source water of the lake is choked by the peat (decomposing plant and animal material) until the only source of water is precipitation.  Bogs are found mostly in the Great Lakes region and northern areas of North America as well as spread across Europe.  Because of the saturation of peat in the water and the covering of sphagnum moss which greatly diminishes the amount of oxygen in the water the former lake becomes very acidic.  The bog moss (sphagnum moss) grows from the edges and works its way slowly across the surface of the lake until the lake is fully covered by the moss and terrestrialized.

 

When I consider the idea of what sin does in our lives I understand that it acts much like the bog moss encroaches over the lake’s surface and creates a hostile environment for the lake’s natural habitants.  When we harbor unconfessed sin in our lives our hearts become a hostile place.  Our relationship with God turns from something that is joyful and vibrant to something that is acidic and hostile.  Our conversation with God becomes something like God speaking to us and asking, “When are you going to come back to me?  What do I have to do to you to get you to repent?” to which we either respond or ignore.  Because God is a patient God, He does not always respond in the instant, but He will sometimes allow us to wallow in our sin until we either grow hardened or turn back to Him.

 

The effect of unconfessed sin in our lives though is as toxic to our souls as the growth of the moss over the surface of the lake.  Sphagnum moss grows upward, from the tips.  The roots which float below the surface die and become part of the peat soup.  The absence of oxygen and the presence of the decomposing peat help to create the high acidity.  In our souls the absence of peace with God and the coddling of sin help to create a “spiritual acidity.”  This “spiritual acidity” sometimes comes out in physiological ailments of the body.  Most often the physiological manifestations of unconfessed sin are gastrointestinal problems, though they are not limited to such.  Chuck Swindol once gave an illustration of a woman who was in the hospital unable to move due to sever back problems.  The elders of the church went to pray for her in the hospital.  One elder asked if there was any unconfessed sin in her life.  The woman confessed to a sin she had been harboring for some time.  The woman then got up out of the hospital bed.

 

The point is this.  Sin causes problems in our lives.  It creates a broken relationship with God and with our fellow man.  It causes us to become increasingly hostile to others.  It causes us to walk about with a spiritual pride that is worthy of a politician.  This pride chokes off the moving of the Holy Spirit in our hearts as He attempts to tell us that we need to confess the sin.  This pride keeps us under the delusion that we are all right and not in need of God’s correction.  It is exactly the opposite.  We are in desperate need of God’s Hand in this moment.  We are, in this moment, pushing away the loving relationship with God.  Scripture says, “But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.  Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”  James 1:14, 15 (NAS)

 When we allow sin to reign in our hearts, when we refuse to admit to sin and our need to confess sin we begin on a path that will only lead to greater grief.  I would venture to say that some lives have been cut short due to sin.  Still, others rob God of full use of abilities and rob the Church in the same way.  We become “spiritually acidic” and attempt to bring others into our “acidity.”  We – you and I – must actively engage in confession of sin.  “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  1 John 1:8, 9 (NASB)  

Again Scripture says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit.  Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will be converted to You.”  Psalm 51:10-13

 

God desires are real relationship with us.  He desires to walk with us on a daily basis.  You and I are responsible to keep a short sin account in our lives.  That means that you and I must daily spend time with God confessing the sins that we allow into our lives.  We must stop the spread of sin in our lives before the sin chokes off the Holy Spirit’s influence in our hearts and become like those whom Scripture refers to as having their conscience’s seared (1 Tim 4:2).

 

May we all practice consistent, daily confession of sin so that we can be called as David, “A man or woman after God’s own heart.”