From the depths of despair, O Lord, I call for your help. Hear my cry, O Lord. Pay attention to my prayer. Lord, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive? But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear you. I am counting on the Lord; yes, I am counting on him. I have put my hope in his word. I long for the Lord more than sentries long for the dawn, yes, more than sentries long for the dawn. O Israel, hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is unfailing love. His redemption overflows. He himself will redeem Israel from every kind of sin. Psalm 130:1-8
I can recall
with vivid accuracy that anxiety, being on-edge, and the feeling of nervous
forebode in the pit of my stomach; the preacher was talking about that
book – the one where God records all our sins.
And he went on and on about it, picking at every-last-thing
I’d ever done wrong. And then he said if
I wanted to make it into the other book, that one where the saved
people have their names written, I’d better change – it was time to decide.
That
preacher hardly knew me, but, then again, he did. He was speaking about the universal condition
of human fallenness. Every person has a
sin nature, and we succumb to temptation in one way or another. My sins may not have been the same as yours,
but they are mine, nonetheless. And that
preacher knew it! And I was definitely
looking for a place to hide!
And then,
along comes Solomon to back up the preacher’s argument, and then, blow it up in
the next breath. Solomon points to the
most devastating (and annoying) truth in human existence – God keeps a record
of our sins.
Lord, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive? Psalm 130:3
I don’t know
how God could be God unless he was aware of everything. My sins are not hidden from Him…and neither
are yours. Something deep within each of
us tells us there is nothing we can truly bury so deep as to hide it from God.
But I also
mentioned that in Solomon’s next stroke of the pen he blew up the whole
judgment thing:
But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear you. Psalm 130:4
In just two
sentences that take just 8 seconds to read aloud Solomon, the wisest man to ever
draw breath covers the most important reality in the universe: We have all sinned and are guilty before God…and
God has already decided to forgive us.
That other
book…the one where the saved people have their names written…your
name is already in that book. According
to the Book of Revelation names are written in the Book of Life, and only erased
if there is no forgiveness for sins.
But, for those who trust in the victory of Jesus Christ, whose death on
the cross was for our forgiveness, those names are not erased, but proclaimed
innocent in heaven!
All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine. Revelation 3:5
So, the good
news in that uncomfortable truth the preacher was laying on my 10-year-old
self, about how if I wanted to escape the flames of hell and get my name in
Jesus’ book…he was right about my guilt, but he should’ve told me my name was
already in Jesus’ book, written in blood.
For You Today
God knew each of us before we were formed in our mothers’ wombs. He had written our name in His eternal
book. And with each entry the mind and
heart of God uttered that familiar word we see in Scripture, Come!
For you and me that is the sweetest word our souls could ever
hear. It means we don’t have to look for
a place to hide, now, or ever.
Title image Pixabay.com ∞
Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
For other posts on Psalm 130 see Night Waiting and What the Angel Said
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