Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned

Today, I feel so blessed to have been able to go to church. Yesterday I was not feeling well, and this morning felt like a Herculean effort to get out of bed...but I did! Pastor this morning preached on one of my favorite psalms, Psalm 51. This psalm is the confession of King David about his sin (having an adulteress affair with Bathsheba and then having Bathsheba's husband killed when Bathsheba becomes pregnant). I love how the psalm is so honest. I cannot imagine writing a confession to my biggest sin and then having that confession passed around from generation to generation and from century to century...but that is exactly what Psalm 51 is.

My favorite line in the psalm is found in verse 4, "Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned." (Thee in this verse of Scripture is referring to God.) I have thought about this verse probably more than any other. When we sin, our sin affects our lives and others, but ultimately, the only person we sin against is God. Lie, steal, cheat, spread rumors--sure they all affect other people, but God is the one who we really sin against. He made the universe and all the rules. When we break His rules, it is as if we spit in His face. When we sin, we say with our actions, "I am not going to follow your rules! Who do You think You are!?" Unfortunately, when we become disobedient, He cannot reward us.

I am reminded of buying a gift for a child. I was so excited to give it to the little boy. Oh, what joy and happiness this was going to bring for this cute little lad. I looked forward for many days to see the smiles, laughter and gleeful reaction of the little boy upon receiving the gift.When the day came to give the toy to the child, he was throwing a tantrum--slapping, hitting and kicking people and screaming. My heart broke. I could not give the child the toy in the midst of his unruly behavior. I had to turn away my joy and blessing from this boy and let him continue on his path of self destruction.

I can only imagine that this same situation happens to God. He has some wonderful gift He wants to give us, but He cannot because we are misbehaving. We think no one will know our sin, and no one will be hurt if we sin. Oh, how wrong we are! God knows when we sin, and when we sin, we take away our own blessings. If only we would stop and consider that when we sin, it is against God we are sinning. How different our behavior might be! And how many wonderful blessings might God be able to bestow upon us if we sinned less?