Remember NOT the sins of my youth or my transgressions. According to Your steadfast love, remember ME....Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged. Bring me out of distresses. Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive my sins. (vs. 6-7; 16-18)
Wow! Interesting how we want the Lord to do for us what we are seldom able to do with each other. Don't remember my sins against you! Remember me. Remember the good things that I have done for you. Remember that I have loved you, my sister, through many years and many troubles. How can you forget that it is I who you now despise because you feel I have sinned against you? Anyone?
But my Father knows me. Psalm 78 is David's recap of the wanderings of the Israelites in the wilderness after their exodus from Egypt. They sinned against the Lord on a pretty continual basis. Grumbling about being taken into the desert to die. Hating the provision of manna as their daily bread. Wanting meat, leeks, garlic, onions and melons. No water. No new shoes. No new clothes. A vanishing Moses. A golden calf that simply sprung up from the fire. Complaining, worshipping a cow, carousing in His presence. The Father had a long list of reasons to just annihilate the whole crowd. But listen to this:
They remembered that God was their Rock, the Most High God their Redeemer. But they flattered Him with their mouths. They lied to Him with their tongues. Their heart was not steadfast to Him. They were not faithful to His covenant. YET HE, being compassionate ATONED for their iniquity and did not destroy them....He remembered that they were BUT DUST - a wind that passes and does not come again. (Psalm 78)
I love that my God looks at me. At my heart. Even when it has been far from Him. He knows why. He knows my pain. He knows how to correct me instead of leave me. In His pursuit of me, He has quite literally gone to hell to get me. There is nothing in me that is worthy of such love. I do not deserve it. For some reason, He decided to cover my dusty self in the blood of His Son, draw me to Himself, and call me precious. He did not overlook my sinfulness. He atoned for it. Paid the price in God-blood so I would not have to with worthless human effort. I love this God. Why wouldn't I?
On some level we need to be like Him in this. I have a friendship that was broken several years ago because of a perceived injustice toward my friend. I was never allowed the opportunity to explain what happened. I was, instead, castigated and denied a voice. Should I have demanded a hearing, I would have shattered some of my friend's ideas about others whom she loves, so I have never said anything to her about it. What is most distressing about this for me is that I spent many, many years being this woman's friend, mentor, even guardian. I loved her when she was at her lowest. Flew to her in her need. And all that is forgotten and dismissed. She cannot see me for seeing herself.
How do we become like Him in this? We are but dust. I have been guilty of looking at the sin against me without seeing who may have hurt me and why he or she might feel the way they do. One may say that we are incapable of doing what only God can do, but I would have to disagree. We who are Christians have Christ in us....His very mind. We can choose thinking that is covered in the cob webs of a dusty old mind or we can be renewed and see what He sees. And He sees our hearts. And commands us to forgive sins against us.
When the troubles of our hearts are so big, crushing us with the distressing circumstances of life, we need to know that it is not because we are unforgiven. Life is just hard. But the psalmist cries out to be clean before His God. Just in case. If I have sinned against God or my brother, I need to make that right. Not just so God will deliver me from my current trouble, but also so I can see clearly my way through. Ever tried to pray through with a guilty conscience? Ever wonder why God says to leave the prayer altar and make it right with someone who has something against you, then come back and continue praying? Because enmity with another gets in the way of fellowship with God.
Here is what I want and pray for often. A dwelling place for the Lord (my heart) that is cobweb clean, swept free of the dirt that has accumulated there. No darkness in this room. Just light - bright and brilliant. A home for the Holy Spirit that is fit for His abiding there in joy. So that when my Father sees me, He sees but a reflection of Himself. I know He has some cleaning yet to do, but I pray the space in which He dwells is getting more and more comfortable for Him.
Wow! Interesting how we want the Lord to do for us what we are seldom able to do with each other. Don't remember my sins against you! Remember me. Remember the good things that I have done for you. Remember that I have loved you, my sister, through many years and many troubles. How can you forget that it is I who you now despise because you feel I have sinned against you? Anyone?
But my Father knows me. Psalm 78 is David's recap of the wanderings of the Israelites in the wilderness after their exodus from Egypt. They sinned against the Lord on a pretty continual basis. Grumbling about being taken into the desert to die. Hating the provision of manna as their daily bread. Wanting meat, leeks, garlic, onions and melons. No water. No new shoes. No new clothes. A vanishing Moses. A golden calf that simply sprung up from the fire. Complaining, worshipping a cow, carousing in His presence. The Father had a long list of reasons to just annihilate the whole crowd. But listen to this:
They remembered that God was their Rock, the Most High God their Redeemer. But they flattered Him with their mouths. They lied to Him with their tongues. Their heart was not steadfast to Him. They were not faithful to His covenant. YET HE, being compassionate ATONED for their iniquity and did not destroy them....He remembered that they were BUT DUST - a wind that passes and does not come again. (Psalm 78)
I love that my God looks at me. At my heart. Even when it has been far from Him. He knows why. He knows my pain. He knows how to correct me instead of leave me. In His pursuit of me, He has quite literally gone to hell to get me. There is nothing in me that is worthy of such love. I do not deserve it. For some reason, He decided to cover my dusty self in the blood of His Son, draw me to Himself, and call me precious. He did not overlook my sinfulness. He atoned for it. Paid the price in God-blood so I would not have to with worthless human effort. I love this God. Why wouldn't I?
On some level we need to be like Him in this. I have a friendship that was broken several years ago because of a perceived injustice toward my friend. I was never allowed the opportunity to explain what happened. I was, instead, castigated and denied a voice. Should I have demanded a hearing, I would have shattered some of my friend's ideas about others whom she loves, so I have never said anything to her about it. What is most distressing about this for me is that I spent many, many years being this woman's friend, mentor, even guardian. I loved her when she was at her lowest. Flew to her in her need. And all that is forgotten and dismissed. She cannot see me for seeing herself.
How do we become like Him in this? We are but dust. I have been guilty of looking at the sin against me without seeing who may have hurt me and why he or she might feel the way they do. One may say that we are incapable of doing what only God can do, but I would have to disagree. We who are Christians have Christ in us....His very mind. We can choose thinking that is covered in the cob webs of a dusty old mind or we can be renewed and see what He sees. And He sees our hearts. And commands us to forgive sins against us.
When the troubles of our hearts are so big, crushing us with the distressing circumstances of life, we need to know that it is not because we are unforgiven. Life is just hard. But the psalmist cries out to be clean before His God. Just in case. If I have sinned against God or my brother, I need to make that right. Not just so God will deliver me from my current trouble, but also so I can see clearly my way through. Ever tried to pray through with a guilty conscience? Ever wonder why God says to leave the prayer altar and make it right with someone who has something against you, then come back and continue praying? Because enmity with another gets in the way of fellowship with God.
Here is what I want and pray for often. A dwelling place for the Lord (my heart) that is cobweb clean, swept free of the dirt that has accumulated there. No darkness in this room. Just light - bright and brilliant. A home for the Holy Spirit that is fit for His abiding there in joy. So that when my Father sees me, He sees but a reflection of Himself. I know He has some cleaning yet to do, but I pray the space in which He dwells is getting more and more comfortable for Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment