Shackled with Guilt

The only time I've ever been "shackled" was 31 years ago when I was accused of being involved in a speed chase in Coweta County. Of course, you know that this is just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time=)

About an hour later, after searching me and my car, being handcuffed and placed in the back seat of the deputy's car, they decided that I was not guilty. (I am to this day very grateful to the policeman that finally admitted that I was not the one that out ran him.) It is not a good feeling to be shackled!

Many people have never been shackled with irons but they are walking around "Shackled with Guilt". In Psalms 32 David relates how he felt when he was "shacked with guilt". He talks about when "he kept silent", or kept things to himself he felt weak inside. David relates how that he felt like that his strength was gone as if he had been in the heat of the summer. David relates how that it was like being in a barren land. In reality David was feeling guilty about his sin! Probably after the time that he committed adultery with Bathsheba and had Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, killed.

Then David said, "Then I confessed my sins to you and didn't hide my guilt. I said, 'I will confess my sins to the Lord' and you forgave my guilt." (Psalms 32:5 NCV)

Thank God that we can find forgiveness through Christ and that we do not have to walk around "Shackled with Guilt".