By David ReayTuesday 20 Apr 2021LifeWords DevotionalsDevotionsReading Time: 2 minutes
Blessed is the one
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the one
whose sin the Lord does not count against them
and in whose spirit is no deceit.
When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night
your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer.
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. (NIV)
To get to the good news we need to go through the bad news. The good news of forgiveness is embraced only after we have faced up to the bad news of our wrongdoing. The Psalmist is thankful for the liberating mercy he has received once he faced up to how much he needed that mercy. This is what we might call healthy conviction of sin.
Then again, there is something which may sadly be confused with conviction: it is condemnation. We simply feel buried under the weight of our wrongdoing and reckon there is nothing or no one that can ease the burden. We are crushed by our realisation that we have gone astray. Such condemnation is not from God and is toxic.
Conviction comes from the Spirit of God; condemnation from the evil one. Conviction drives us to God’s mercy; condemnation has us focus on our own shortcomings. Conviction lifts the burden of guilt; condemnation reinforces it. Conviction leads to hope and joy; condemnation results in shame and misery.
The whole idea of facing our sins is not to come to grips with how bad we are but with how gracious God is. The point of admitting the bad news of our failures is that we might more eagerly embrace the good news of God’s forgiveness.
Blessings
David