READING: Psalms 31-32, Acts 23:16-35
“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven.”
Psalm 32:1
The world promotes all kinds of ways to find “happiness,” though almost all of them are fleeting. Get a better job. Get married (or, in some cases, get divorced). Climb the corporate ladder. Purchase that house you want. Buy that car. The problem with all of these possibilities is that none of them alone can bring true happiness; in some cases, they only leave us wanting more.
Even Christians sometimes fall into the same traps, listening to the wrong voices over the Word of God. A central theme of the book of Psalms is that the happy (“blessed”) man is the one who walks the path of righteousness. He “walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers” (Psa. 1:1). That is not to say, though, that he lives a life of perfection. Even the righteous fail, but then they learn the other side of blessedness: the grace of God that forgives.
The psalmist describes it this way: “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit” (Psa. 32:1-2). Using three common words to describe sin – transgression, sin, and iniquity – the psalmist points out that God forgives every kind and every one of our sins. Likewise, he shows the depths of God’s forgiveness: He forgives our sin, covers it, and does not count it against us. That is, He carries our sin away from us, atones for it, and counts us as justified before Him. With such a gracious God, how can we not follow the psalmist’s lead to confess our sin to Him rather than try to hide it? It is a foolish man who tries to cover up his sin from a God who wants to blot it out anyway.
Indeed, when we trust God to forgive us, we find out what it really means to be blessed.
ACTION STEPS:
- Deal with all the private sin in your life. Confess it to God.
- Shout for joy for the way God forgives. Grace really is amazing.
PRAYER: “God, with the psalmist I say, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.’”
TOMORROW’S READING: Psalms 33-34, Acts 24