Being the first of the month, I went to Psalm 1 for devotional reading today. You might be familiar with the plan--Day 1, read Psalm 1, add 30 and read Psalm 31, add 30 and read Psalm 61, etc.. But my eye caught a note at the bottom of the page that referred to Psalm 32 that interested me, so I turned there.It begins,
How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
That struck a chord in my heart. The guilt and shame of sin causes us to want to hide. From God. From others. Trying to hide is no answer. We might be able to hide from others for awhile, but soon we find our relationships fading as we back away into the darkness.
We cannot hide from God. He knows our coming and our going. And deep inside, we know He knows. And He knows the sorrow we bear from our guilt and shame. He is after us, in pursuit.
He knows we need help. He knows our sin is in need of a covering. To cover the guilt, so we will no longer be ashamed. So we will no longer want to hide. From others. From Him.
He wants relationship with us. He wants us to have relationship with others. But what about the guilt that separates us? The shame that overshadows us?
God has provided the covering. He wants us to receive the covering. That covering is His Son, Jesus Christ. He provides forgiveness for our guilt. He removes the shadow of shame that comes with it.
For those who place their faith in Jesus Christ, God sees Him as the covering for our sin and our guilt.
We need not hide. Our sin is covered. Our transgression is forgiven. And how blessed we are!
I needed to be reminded of that this morning. Maybe you, too, dear one?
Image ~ Marguerite, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1903
pubic domain, via WikiArt
