Day 90: Psalm 139:1–24

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light around me will become night”—even the darkness is not dark to You. The night shines like the day; darkness and light are alike to You (vv. 11–12).

Be aware of the progressive nature of sin. We’ve all experienced this. Reread 2 Samuel 11:1–5 and note three progressive areas of sin.

Step 1: David sinned in thought. First of all, David saw the woman bathing and concluded she was very beautiful. Sight turned into desire. The seed of sin was first sown in his mind as he tarried on the rooftop, just as the seed of sin is first sown in our minds.

Step 2: David sinned in word. If we do not confess and repent the sin of the mind, it virtually always gives birth to the next stage. The meditation of David’s mind turned into the conversation of his mouth. God knows that our meditations (the focus of our thoughts, what we think and rethink) will ultimately turn into conversations. That’s why He tells us to meditate on Him and His Word!

Temptations rarely go from the mind to the deed. The second stop is usually the mouth. David saw Bathsheba and allowed himself to dwell on wrong desires (the participation of his mind), then he summoned someone and expressed his interest (the participation of his mouth). These two steps enticed a third.

Step 3: David sinned in deed. David flirted with adultery in thought and word, stopping at neither venue to repent and ask God for help. Action followed. David committed adultery and set in motion a hurricane of repercussions.

For years I’ve approached my time of confession and repentance by categorizing my sins according to the three areas we’ve addressed. In my prayer time, I ask God to bring to my mind any sins of thought, word, or deed. Virtually everything will fall into one of those three categories. Through David’s example I realized how often the three areas can unite as participants in grievous sin.

If wrong thoughts give way to wrong words, often giving way to wrong actions, we must learn to allow God to halt sin in the place where it begins—the thought life! We are wise to aggressively confess the sins of our thoughts! The sins of our thought lives are so numerous that their familiarity tends to make them less noticeable. Jealous thoughts, sudden lusts, quick criticisms, and harsh judgments may be fueled in our minds without any regard toward them as sin.

A heightened awareness of wrong thoughts will work greatly to our advantage. Getting in the habit of confessing sin in the thought life is not to remind us constantly what wretches we are, but to remind us what victors we are! Confessing wrong thoughts stops sin in the first stages, before it comes out of our mouths and then directs our actions.

If I allow God to halt sin before it takes one step out of the mind into word or deed, the only person hurt will be me. Once sin progresses from the mind to the mouth and deeds, we’ve involved others, and the repercussions and chastisements escalate.

Unchecked thoughts will usually progress. Our minds can’t be “fairly pure.” Purity comes with a radical attitude toward the thought life. God was looking out for our best interest when He commanded us to love Him with our whole minds!

I encourage you to let the following Scriptures become staples in your prayer time to guide you through purity of thought, word, and deed before God.

Regarding thoughts:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting (Ps. 139:23–24).

Regarding words:

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be pleasing in your sight,

O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer (Ps. 19:14).

Regarding deeds:

Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary?

Who may live on your holy hill?

He whose walk is blameless

and who does what is righteous,

who speaks the truth from his heart (Ps. 15:1–2).

Copy these words of Scripture. Memorize them. Let them guide your confession daily. None of us is beyond the sin of adultery. Two kinds of people are in greatest danger: those who think they could never be tempted and those who are presently being tempted. May we cast ourselves on the mercy of God and find help in our time of trouble. Big trouble.