October 4
Psalm 32.1-5
1 Blessed is the one
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
2 Blessed is the one
whose sin the Lord does not count against them
and in whose spirit is no deceit.
3 When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night
your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer.
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
my transgressions to the Lord.”
And you forgave
the guilt of my sin.
There is a great heaviness that sits with us when we know our own guilt. There are those who carry guilt to the grave, but will let it out at the last moment. They cannot let it set. Some let go much sooner and will confess to their sins. Then there are those I have trouble understanding. The ones who either feel no guilt or they are able to live with it and never let things out.
While we might be able to hide things from people, there is no hiding things from God. I can’t even hide things from my wife, so I couldn’t imagine hiding things from God. It is not a confession where we are informing God of what we have done. Like finally informing parents of our having been suspended from school for a week, but not till we have reached retirement. It is acknowledging what God knows of us already. We are broken and sinful. We need forgiveness and we need transformation.
Transformation will come. This week we see the need for confession and forgiveness. And the reality that was seen long before the days of Jesus walking with us was the God offers forgiveness. Here the Psalmist tells us that God forgave sin. We can go back to the times of the Exodus from Egypt and see the forgiveness God brings when the people quarrel and test. We see the pattern of forgiveness and saving in the book of Judges. God has always been the God of grace and forgiveness.
God offers forgiveness to us. Not the simple forgiveness of one thing is now covered. God says that all things are now covered. We will look at the full forgiveness that comes to us later this week in the work of Jesus, the perfect High Priest offering the Perfect sacrifice. The final and complete sacrifice that brings the complete and final forgiveness to us forever. Daily confessing, but always loved and forgiven.
Song – Amazing Love
Prayer
God, we make so many mistakes; we turn away from you so often. We need you so much. Thank you that you so loved the world that you sent Jesus to die on the cross to save us from our sins. Amen.