What are presumptuous sins and why did David pray for God to keep him from them? Conversely, what are respectable sins? Could there be some sins that are understandable and excusable?

Also, why does God talk so much in the Bible about the importance of remembering what He has done for us? What do we need to remember in our battle with sin? Find out the answers to these and other questions in today’s post.

Welcome, to “God’s Word Day by Day.” This year I’ve added a couple of new features. First, check out the “Free Resources” tab at the top. You’ll find a downloadable, printable PDF with “Going Deeper Study Questions” for each day’s post and a list of all the Bible readings so you can check them off as you go. You’ll also find the daily posts on YouTube. The daily emails now have a link to both these Soul Survival posts and the YouTube videos. If you’re not already signed up, you can do it here.

Today’s Readings:

Numbers 15 & 16
Psalm 32.1-5
Proverbs 11.16-18
Mark 11.1-19

Respectable & Presumptuous Sins

Numbers 15 & 16:

Presumptuous Sins

God had delivered the nation of Israel from Egypt and provided for them over and over in the wilderness. So these chapters can’t help but seem astounding when we see how these people rebelled again and again. And yet, if we’re honest, we are more like them than we might care to think!

In Numbers 15.30 we see an example of what David called “presumptuous sins,” willful disobedience, knowing something is wrong and doing it anyway. Remember, anytime we sin, it’s first and foremost a sin against God. So when we willfully transgress the Lord’s commands, we’re shaking our fists at God just as Korah and his bunch did in today’s reading. Instead of fearing God, we’re rebelling against Him!

It may not be as public when we do it, so we may think it’s not as bad. But remember God is looking at our hearts and nothing is hidden from Him. Romans 14.23 says, “… for whatever is not from faith is sin.” And James 4.17 says, “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin” (NASB).

We sometimes justify such behavior with a well-God-will-forgive-me attitude. But we should remember that there is no forgiveness without repentance (2 Cor. 7.9-10), something often lacking when it comes to presumptuous sins.

So, let’s pray like David:

Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins;
Let them not have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
And I shall be innocent of great transgression (Ps. 19.13).

Now let’s look at another portion of today’s reading in Numbers.

Remember, Remember, Remember

God, in His mercy, is constantly showing us ways to “remember” His mighty works. In Numbers 15.37-41, He instructed the Israelites to put tassels on their garments to remind them of the commandments and the importance of obeying them. He was saying “remember, remember, remember”!

Yet, the Nation of Israel failed over and over and constantly turned back to living by their feelings, instead of walking by faith.

Today, we have the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper as reminders. We hang plaques on our walls, write verses on our screen savers, and have coffee cups emblazoned with Scripture. But we need to be careful that those things don’t just become something we do without thinking about what they really mean.

What do we think about when we watch someone being baptized? Do we remember that it symbolizes the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord (Rom. 6.1-7)? Do we remember that it pictures our death to sin and sin’s power over us and the grace we have to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6.4)?

What do we think about when we take the Lord’s Supper? Do we remember that it pictures Christ’s body broken for us and His blood shed for our sins (1 Cor. 11.24-26)? Do we examine ourselves so we don’t partake unworthily (1 Cor. 11.27-32)?

Let’s learn from the example of those who went before us and remember well.

Remember as We Live Our Lives

But those are not the only times we should remember all that Christ has done for us.

God has given us His written Word, great biblically sound books, teachings on the radio, on TV, on the internet, and in church. Yet, how often do we leave church after hearing a great message and, instead of “remembering,” … we, immediately, start living for ourselves, fighting and quarreling, and sinning willfully … sometimes on the way home!

In Numbers 16, after God’s powerful object lesson where the earth opened up and swallowed the rebels (Num. 16.1-3, 28-34), it says the next day … the next day … the people turned around and picked up where the rebels left off (Num. 16.41)! Talk about presumptuous sins!

I want to learn from their example and not have to suffer a similar fate.

What Will Help Us Remember?

Once during a counseling session with a couple who fought like crazy, even in his office, my husband finally slammed his fist down and asked, “Wasn’t Christ dying on the cross enough for you?!”

He wasn’t angry, merely trying to make a point. That couple, like all of us when we sin, were ungrateful toward God. Look at God’s words through the prophet Nathan to David after he had sinned:

⁹ Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. ¹⁰ … because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife (2 Sam. 12.9-10, emphasis added).

Did you notice that word despised? I don’t know about you but that hits me hard.

And it’s not just with our presumptuous sins. Many of us have what Jerry Bridges calls “respectable sins,” sins we see as minor or excusable. Sins we think aren’t really that bad. But every sin is a sin for which Christ suffered and died.

We need to “preach the gospel” to ourselves by regularly reminding ourselves of all that Christ did for us and how much He has forgiven us. We need to run back to the cross when we do sin and we will. And we need to be good repenters (1 Jn. 1.9) It will help us have compassion for others when they sin against us.

When We’re Sinned Against

One last note about Moses’ response to the people. Notice, though, that even though the Israelites’ rebellion involved threats against him, he interceded for them rather than taking it personally. We need to “remember” that when people sin against us. I read somewhere that we are never more like God than when we forgive and pray for those who spitefully use us.

For more on the danger of holding on to “respectable sins,” you might want to read Jerry Bridges’ book Respectable Sins.

A few thoughts about today’s other readings …

Psalm 32.1-5:

“I will instruct you …”

The Psalms are not in chronological order. In fact, many believe that Psalm 32 actually follows Psalm 38 and Psalm 51 chronologically and refers, at least in part, to David’s adultery with Bathsheba.

Psalm 38 is a picture of David’s suffering, depression, and misery as a result of his unconfessed sin. And Psalm 51 is David’s Psalm of repentance and confession after being confronted by the Prophet Nathan.

Psalm 32 is called a “maskil” or instructional psalm. In verse 8 he says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go …”

As you read this psalm, ask yourself, what is God saying to me? Is there some sin for which you need to repent, perhaps one that seems respectable or excusable? If so, go to the Lord, confess (agree with Him that it is sin), and repent (change your mind about the direction you are going and go God’s way).

Proverbs 11.16-18:

Good for the Soul

The merciful man does good for his own soul, but he who is cruel troubles his own flesh (v. 17).

Paul said it this way:

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap (Gal. 6.7).

Mark 11.1-19:

The True King

Mark 11.1-11 covers Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem the week before Passover. This very important event is one of the few covered in all four Gospels. Although few, if any, fully understood at the time, this was Jesus’ coronation as Israel’s True King. We celebrate this event as Palm Sunday.

⁹ Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

Coming Up:

In the coming days, we’ll talk about how God guides His children, and look at modesty, discretion, and what, if anything, God’s Word says about how we dress.

I hope you’ll sign up so you don’t miss them. 

Blessings as you grow in Christ,
Donna ♥

Note about this post:

I began blogging through the Bible in 2012 and have done so every year since then. These posts are the product of many edits and additions throughout those years. Some days I make major changes, other days fewer. 

A while ago, I read Jen Wilkin’s book None Like Him about the attributes of God. One is His incomprehensibility. In it, she says, “God is incomprehensible. This does not mean that he is unknowable, but that he is unable to be fully known.”

I have found that to be true each year as I’ve gone back through the Bible. Sometimes I find myself feeling as if a passage just appeared there for the first time. I’m reminded that no matter how many times we read through the Bible, we have only scratched the surface. I hope you feel the same.

Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?” (Job 26.14)

I sometimes LINKUP with these blogs.