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

SPECIAL DELIVERY

Which do you like better:  Getting a compliment you perceive as lukewarm and half-hearted or one that overflows with praise?  Assuming the answer is the latter, it is something you have in common with God.  When you give in to your own longing and tell yourself how capable you are, you create stress, because you’re operating in the realm of half-truth.  Yes, you may be very capable, but without supernatural help you are nothing (John 15:5).  Jesus further said that out of the heart’s abundance the mouth would speak (Luke 6:45).  How often we figure that we can talk ourselves into doing just about anything, but Proverbs 16:3 tells us that when we commit our works to the Lord, it is then that our thoughts will be established.

If you are facing a current crisis, there’s no peace in worrying about how you’ll get out of it.  The peace comes instead when you reflect on past deliverances that were achieved beyond your own effort.  Crises come and crises go, but the Lord is constant through them all. 

And what Lord—or parent for that matter—doesn’t want to see their child look to him or her for guidance midst a troublesome matter?  The Lord shared in Isaiah 42:8 that He would not share His glory with another, and it behooves the peace-seeker to keep that in remembrance. 

Experiencing the peace of God midst the trials of man is not so much subject to God’s ability to provide that peace, as for you to recognize He can and does deliver—just remember to exalt Him when He delivers you, that He may care to do it time and time again.

b(Les)sings

Psalm 9--KJV

[1] I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.
[2] I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.
[3] When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence.
[4] For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the throne judging right.
[5] Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever.
[6] O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end: and thou hast destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them.
[7] But the LORD shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment.
[8] And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.
[9] The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.
[10] And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.
[11] Sing praises to the LORD, which dwelleth in Zion: declare among the people his doings.
[12] When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble.
[13] Have mercy upon me, O LORD; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death:
[14] That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation.
[15] The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.
[16] The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.
[17] The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
[18] For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.
[19] Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight.
[20] Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.

WHO BUT GOD COULD HAVE “PLAN IT” THAT WAY?

David begins the 8^th Psalm by focusing on God’s magnificence.  He is not just Lord but Lord of many.  His authority is to be revered throughout the earth, though His brilliance and splendor take up their residence far out of man’s view.  The very fact that we can’t see Him directly allows us to see Him in others.

God gives strength to those who don’t otherwise have it, so that He can be glorified in the resulting differences obvious to the casual acquaintances of those He pours Himself into.  He confounds the wise of the world by the simple.  David goes on to show how even the “least” among us are great in the economy of God.  Are you tormented by an enemy?  God has babies fighting on your side.  It’s no wonder that the pro-life movement is an affront to Satan—each babbling baby (and other babies that mature into Christian adulthood) are nails—not just on a chalkboard, but in the Devil’s coffin as well.

Have you ever gone out on a clear, crisp night and witnessed the majesty of the night sky?  Looking up it causes you to realize just how small you are as a person. You can’t help but be struck by man’s insignificance in comparison to the greatness that are the stars and planets, both in their size and radiance.  When you take all of these things into account you stand ready to put on the garment of peace reserved for those that understand there is One greater in the world than themselves.

David concludes his work by repeating what he said in its beginning.  Do you want peace?  Recognize the sovereignty of God in the midst of your turmoil—recognize there is One greater than you—and torment that which has been tormenting you.

b(Les)sings

Psalm 8--KJV

 ¹O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
 ²Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
 ³When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
 ⁴What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
 ⁵For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
 ⁶Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
 ⁷All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
 ⁸The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
 ⁹O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!