When Discomfort Speaks - Part II

The total body discomfort caused by the pebble in my shoe reminded me that Christ set up His body, the Church, the same way. When one member hurts, the whole "body" ought to hurt as well because we are all connected. But there was one other important enlightenment that resulted from my discomfort; it only stopped when I took the time to remove its cause.

As the child of God tries to make his or her way through this world, there are times when we veer off-track. Whether in thoughts, words, or deeds, we miss God's standard; we violate His word. For some people, this may not be that big of a deal. Like a callused foot, they seem void of any sensitivity to the fact that something is wrong. Paul's characterization of people "having their conscience seared with a hot iron" (1 Timothy 4:2, KJV) could easily apply to them. Bible Scholar Albert Gill observes that these are they "whose consciences are cauterized and hardened, and past feeling; and have no regard to what they say or do, make no conscience of anything." However, if we profess to be led by the Spirit, our consciences are sensitive to His promptings and veering off-track produces an inner discomfort. Like the pebble in the shoe, this discomfort persists until we do something about it.

The Psalmist David found this out only too well. After committing adultery with Bathsheba and then having her husband Uriah killed in an attempt to cover up his indiscretion, Nathan the prophet was sent to him by God to awaken him to a sense of his sin. His discomfort caused him to immediately acknowledge his sins, and he showed true repentance in the words immortalized in Psalm 51. Gill notes that this Psalm remains on record "for the instruction of such as should fall into sin, how to behave, where to apply, and for their comfort." With God, the kind of sin does not matter. What matters is that we be sensitive to the Spirit's conviction and that we do something about it.

The confession "Have mercy upon me, O God" (Psalm 51:1a) is the start of the correct response to spiritual discomfort. It sets in motion the process for relationship restoration with God and those we may have wronged. And lest we forget, that discomfort does not go away until we either become callused and insenstive or we do something about it. How do you choose?