I am forgiven

Ps.32 ;1, ‘Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered.’

When David wrote this blessed psalm, he had gone through the pain of being unforgiven and then the great peace of being forgiven. When we read this, we realize the greatness of this great gift. Truly, the greatest blessing on this earth is nothing more than being forgiven.

King David was a highly favored king, both by God and men. He was anointed. He had a close walk with God. Yet, there was a phase in his life when something pulled him back from the Lord. He committed adultery and also murdered an innocent life. He then lived as if nothing wrong had happened. Was it true that he had not realized or convicted about his sins ? A person walking with God, anointed and favored, not being convicted of such great sins till prophet Nathan walking into his palace, is quite unbelievable. There were certainly certain things that were holding him back from responding rightly to the conviction of his sins. Ps.32:3 says about what happened when he was silent. His bones waxed old through his roaring all day long. There was a time when he struggled to confess. There was a time of silence, when he could not confess. He could not approach the throne of grace freely with confidence. The struggle between conviction and confession is hard. One either gives up or gives in.

It was God who made David the king. This  authority of a king was given to rule the kingdom as per Lord’s ways. But here, the divine authority was misused to satisfy his flesh. He ordered the woman to be brought to his palace and then ordered her husband to be killed. The love for sin blinded David and he lost  the discernment to use divine gifts and authority for divine purposes. The love for authority and positions more than the longingness of  being righteous in God’s eyes often snatch away the blessedness of being forgiven.

King David was informed about the pregnancy of the lady with whom he had committed adultery. And soon after that, he moved ahead to kill her husband and make the lady and child to be born as his own (2 Sam.11:5-6). At times, the consequence of sin raises up its head sooner than we expect. As getting away with the consequence is much more harder & painful than the sin itself, the normal tendency is to cover up the consequence by masking it up and thus sink deeper into sin. 

 King David desired to accept the woman into his life and vice versa. Even as he continued with his plans, he desired to remain accepted by the people of his kingdom. Acceptance by the world more than heaven is yet another reason why many run away from confession. Confession might leave one alone in this world, but it’s the only way of assurance of divine  presence in our lives .

 It was God’s mercy that intervened in David’s life through Nathan prophet. Had this intervention been not there, King David would have continued in the growing blindness of sin and ultimately be lost. Let’s not assume God’s silence  over our sins as ‘ignored’. Every thought and motives are recorded by heaven. Today or tomorrow, we will stand before the judge, before whom our lives are like open book.

Judas and Peter were both disciples of Jesus. Both loved Jesus, yet one was lost while the other saved. Though Judas betrayed Him, he never thought that Jesus would allow Himself to be handed over to be crucified. His love for Christ made him return the 30 pieces of silver but was in vain. The consequence of his sin was now too great to be done away with. He could not bear the pain of guilt overshadowing him . He felt that his crime or guilt was too great to be forgiven.  While Peter, who denied Christ thrice did not fail to repent. In the midst of guilt, he received strength to raise up his eyes to Christ who had looked on him with deep love. There was no mark of his sins in that divine love. It was so pure, complete and strengthening. His trust in the love of Christ was deep.

Here we see how the greatness of the guilt and the seriousness of the consequence of sin  stops some from approaching the throne of grace.  Lets realize that there is no sin in this world, which cannot be washed away by the blood of Jesus. There is no consequence of sin which we cannot go through if we truly repent. Eph.3:19 says that the love of Christ passes knowledge, which fills us with all fullness of God. King David indeed went through the consequence of sin, yet his soul was saved. God’s abundant strength enabled him to face it with a humble heart.

Repentance begins with realization of our sinfulness, but if it fails to see Christ above all our sinfulness, this realization can be dangerous. This is what happened to Judas. Indeed he realized his sin, but that lead him to depression and then eternal death. His failure to understand the depth of love of Christ and its power to forgive and restore lives lead him to eternal darkness.

Repentance is a balanced approach towards hatred towards sin and the passion for Christ’s love and forgiveness displayed on the cross of Calvary. If we focus on the hatred and guilt of sin too much, we might fail to understand the completeness of the  work of forgiveness through Christ Jesus. On the other hand, if we focus on the forgiveness alone, we might not be serious with continuing the rest of our lives in the holiness of God.

Mt.5:4 says that ‘blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.’  Mourning represents the deep pain expressed over a person who has departed from this earth. Such great is the pain of guilt and pain which sin brings in, which seperates us from the living God. But if this mourning is soon followed with a firm decision to never to sin again, the Holy Spirit soon fills the concerned person with comfort and joy of the Lord. Jesus said that such lives are ‘blessed’. We see these blessed lives in Rev. 19:1,  After these things I heard^[a] a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord^[b] our God!’ There is salvation only in the name of Jesus. There is only one way of entering this great blessed place of heaven and that is through the washing of His blood, the blood of the Lamb, who was slain for our sins. If asked for the reason to be in heaven, there is only one apt answer, ‘I am forgiven.’

King David was again filled with joy of salvation and praises resounded from his heart (ps.32:11). Peter’s submission to Christ became so strong that even the knowledge of his death on account of standing for Christ could not move him back (Jn.21:18-19). Thus forgiveness proved its victory over guilt again.

Am I forgiven ? We need to ask this time and again to our own selves. Am I assuming that I am forgiven or am I sure of being forgiven ? Are we refusing to confess, fearing its consequences ? Let’s not be deceived. Lets see ourselves through His eyes. Lets not continue in sins.  Lets pray earnestly to reveal our hidden sins and lets be serious about repentance. Lets move ahead with an attitude of ‘I will sin no more’, trusting in the grace given to us through His Spirit to walk in obedience. May we all ‘be forgiven’ and be found with Christ in eternity. God bless us all.

      God bless us all

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