THE BLESSING OF FORGIVENESS

As I rapidly approach my 29^th year of marriage, I look back with fondness upon the time I shattered my (then fiancée’s) confidence in me—how she gave me a second chance to redeem myself—and what that redemption felt like.

When Kathi and I met, she was a third grade Christian school teacher.  She literally gave me the shirt off her back one day—right in the middle of the school hallway.  I was terrified for her (and me), until I realized she had another shirt on underneath that one.

During the course of everyday conversation, I came to learn that a mutual friend of ours was the original writer of a famous musical piece—one that myself and countless others had admired for years.  She admonished me with those ever popular words:  “Now whatever you do, don’t tell anybody.”

Well, I didn’t—just tell anybody, that is—I went right to the source.  He didn’t seem too happy, and when Kathi heard about it, she was even more displeased.  I was grieved.  Not only did I fail a friend—and someone who at present was a fiancée—I had failed myself.  I was mournful.  All I could do was repeatedly express my grief to the two that I had offended.  Then, as I was getting ready to leave the school parking lot one morning, Kathi beckoned to me.  I approached timidly.

She told me her middle name. 

It turns out she teased the kids with it all the time, giving them clues that were just beyond their intellectual reach—and driving them deliciously insane in the process.  So now she trusted me as one who stood with the power to either destroy or restore our relationship.  Glad to say I made the right choice.

And how did that make me feel?  Stupendous!

In like manner, when we walk with the Lord we should run to (and not from) Him when we do wrong.  The world says if you run from Him and to it, you escape the torment—but in reality, it’s just the other way around.  Peace comes out of the celebration the two of you have together as your right relationship is restored.  Defeat for the world is victory with God.  Again I say it:    When you do something wrong, run to God, rather than from Him—it’s not like you’re going to catch Him by surprise! 

Just about the only thing that surprises me anymore, is that the older I get, and the more time I spend with God—the greater my peace becomes.

b(Les)sings

Psalm 32

New King James Version (NKJV)

A Psalm of David. A Contemplation.^[a]

 ¹ Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
         Whose sin is covered.
 ² Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity,
         And in whose spirit there is no deceit.
        
 ³ When I kept silent, my bones grew old
         Through my groaning all the day long.
 ⁴ For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
         My vitality was turned into the drought of summer.  Selah 
 ⁵ I acknowledged my sin to You,
         And my iniquity I have not hidden.
         I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,”
         And You forgave the iniquity of my sin.  Selah 
        
 ⁶ For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You
         In a time when You may be found;
         Surely in a flood of great waters
         They shall not come near him.
 ⁷ You are my hiding place;
         You shall preserve me from trouble;
         You shall surround me with songs of deliverance.  Selah 
        
 ⁸ I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
         I will guide you with My eye.
 ⁹ Do not be like the horse or like the mule,
         Which have no understanding,
         Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle,
         Else they will not come near you.
        
 ¹⁰ Many sorrows shall be to the wicked;
         But he who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him.
 ¹¹ Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous;
         And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 32:1 Hebrew Maschil