Day 23 - Avoiding the Flood

Today's readings are from Psalm 32 and John 3:14-21

There's a remarkable verse translated in the New Living Translation from Psalm 32:6. First a bit of context. This Psalm of David is written as a companion Psalm to Psalm 51. Both come out of the experience of David's sin when he had sex with Bathsheba and in trying to cover his affair up, he ended up causing the death of her husband, Uriah. For over a year David lived a lie, trying desperately to cover up the facts of what he did. When Nath;an the Prophet comes to David with a rather sad story of a man with one hundred sheep, stealing the one lone sheep of a poor man, David is indignant and rises in judgement against the rich man...only to have Nathan turn the tale into a confrontation of David's own actions with Uriah and Bathsheba. A year after the events, David confesses his sin, and in a public repentance, he comes back to a place where he replaces the weights of guilt and condemnation with the freedom of repentance and forgiveness.

Psalm 32:1-2 (NLT)
1 Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!
2 Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!

Joy is not just happiness. It is the freedom of a right relationship, where there are no secrets; where there is no guilt; where there is complete honesty. For some, it is seemingly too unreal. They have lived so long with their guilt and condemnation, they cannot conceive of anything else...but there is something else. There is the Spring, the sunshine, the warmer air of a life of forgiveness and freedom.

This is what awaits us when we turn to Christ with our sins at any time. David says it this way, Psalm 32:5-7 (NLT)
5 Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the LORD.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.
6 Therefore, let all the godly pray to you while there is still time, that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgment.
7 For you are my hiding place; you protect me from trouble. You surround me with songs of victory.

It is simple...there is the joy and freedom of confession and forgiveness; or the floodwaters of guilt, inward judgment, the continual weight of carrying around the sins I so desperately need to shed.

John's gospel makes it so simple: John 3:16-18a (NLT)
16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him..."

We sing that song in Worship..."Come to Jesus". It is one of those beautiful songs of worship that reminds me that we are a prayer away from freedom. If you don't remember it, here's a link to a video on the song...take some time and enjoy.