Forgiven!

“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
    whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
    and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
    through my groaning all day long.
Day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
    my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

I acknowledged my sin to you,
    and did not cover my iniquity;
I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’
    and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. 

Therefore let everyone who is godly
    offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
    they shall not reach him.
You are a hiding place for me;
    you preserve me from trouble;
    you surround me with shouts of deliverance…

Steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.
Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,
    shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” Psalm 32:1-7,10-11

The benefits and blessedness of being forgiven go on and on, like a stream that refreshes, carries, frees, and delights. David had known too well the agony of unconfessed sin, of the cruel, heinous monster that crippled his health, poisoned relationships, and disrupted spiritual communion. His heart had grown calloused, impermeable to all but the grace of God that inched close and broke through in love and mercy. Ah, the cleansing! The freedom! The reassurance through restoration! The unadulterated gladness! (2 Samuel 12:1-13; Psalm 38:3-11,18)

Forgiveness is God’s wondrous gift, wholly achieved by Christ’s sacrifice of Himself and imparted by pure grace. Yet, it is tapped by the humbling of the soul, genuine confession and repentance for what we recognize and name as offense against the Holy One. Once we come clean, He rushes in like a powerful wave to crash against our stubborn idolatry, break down our hard hearts, wash clean of all deception, pride, jealousy, malice, impatience. (Psalm 51:1-12)

Forgiveness is the first gift, opening us to receive all others. It mutes our groaning and revives the sapped. It assures hope for the future, whatever troubles and temptations come. It is God’s promise of fidelity to the deliverance and keeping of our souls. Can we shout with gratitude and rejoicing?

Are we taking full advantage of the blessedness forgiveness in Christ affords? If we continue to live in the past, ruing former bad choices and their painful consequences, ashamed for ill behavior and words spoken, regretting what we cannot undo, we have not applied the fullness of what our Savior finished on the cross. He said, It is finished, yet we claim we cannot forgive ourselves- as if we had that power anyway? Freedom comes only when we claim by faith that His finished work was once for all, and we bear no more burden of guilt. (John 19:30; Hebrews 10:12-14,19-23)

What sin have we held too long, and suffered under its deceit, weight, and spread? When will we bow, confess, and seize the grand freedom God offers in Christ?

“My sin oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
my sin, not in part, but the whole,
is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more;
praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul! 

It is well with my soul;
it is well, it is well with my soul.” ~Horatio Spafford (1873)

Alleluia!