Mar 13 - Psalm 6:6

I am weary with my moaning;

every night I flood my bed with tears”

Psalm 6:6

NRSV

 

In Exodus 3:13-14, Moses asked God his name. The Lord said, “I AM who I AM.”

 

Jesus used defined himself as the “I AM” too. “I am the bread of life.” “I am the light of the world.” “I am the good shepherd.” “I am the way and the truth and the life.” (John 6:35, 8:12, 10:11, 14:6)

 

When God uses the words, “I AM,” he’s telling us that he’s powerful, that he is all-sufficient, that he is life itself. (It’s okay to stop and say, “Wow!” and “Thank you!”)

 

In Scripture, what happens, however, when people like you and me say, “I am”? Take a look at the Scripture’s big book of prayers. Psalmists like David cry …

 

·         “I am in distress” (31:9)

·         “I am in despair” (69:20)

·         “I am distraught” (55:2)

·         “I am worn down” (39:10)

·         “I am poor and needy” (40:17)

·         “I am lonely and afflicted” (25:16)

 

In Scripture, when God says, “I AM,” He’s telling us that He’s powerful and all-sufficient. When humans say, “I am,” we are admitting that we powerless and in need of a sustainer.

 

This is our final day of focusing on the Genesis 2:25 words “naked and not ashamed.” To be successful in marriage, let me talk about one more form of nakedness ...

 

Spiritual Nakedness

 

So what does this kind of spiritual honesty and transparency look like? Look again at the human at the naked vulnerability within the “I am” statements in the Psalms …

 

·         I am too wasted to eat my bread.” (102:4)

·         I am so troubled that I cannot speak” (77:4)

·         I am persecuted without cause (119:86)

·         I am like a lonely bird on the housetop. (102:7)

·         I am languishing … my bones are shaking with terror” (6:2)

 

Can you say things like that to God?

 

Do you say things like that to your spouse?

 

When I confess to my wife that I am, ”I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears” (Ps 6:6), this is emotional nakedness. But when my wife and I bring God into our trials and conversations, we get a strength bigger than two of us. As it says in Ecclesiastes 4:12, “A cord of three strands is not easily broken.”

 

It’s profoundly strengthening when a wife is vulnerable before God.

 

And when a husband is spiritually honest, his capacity extends far beyond his own strength.

 

But when husband and wife come together before God, they reap the fruits of being honest with each other under the umbrella of entrusting their lives to the one who can be trusted with every secret — God. And soon, they begin see each other through God’s eyes. They’re more humble and gentle. Forgiveness comes more readily. They’re truly three united strands — husband, wife, and “the Lord [who] is [our] strength and [our] shield; in him [our] heart trusts” (28:7).

 

When we are spiritually naked — before God and with our spouse — “The Lord is [our] shepherd, [we] shall not want” (23:1).

 

Question: When you think about your closest relationships, where is God in the midst of these unions?

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who remembers that

immediately after the first sin

Adam hid from Eve (with fig leaves)

and from God (in the bushes)...

meaning both have to be restored

if I want to be whole