“Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.
When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.’ And you forgave the guilt of my sin.”
Have you ever experienced the need to get something off your chest? It seems that many Americans experience this “pressure cooker” effect, particularly when it comes to stress and anxiety. When we experience confusing situations, our uncertainty builds up. When we fail at something we think we should’ve succeeded in doing, we bottle up the pain. We may try to hide those failures or play them down as just mistakes. But our memory keeps track of the truth - what really happened is always in the back of our minds, ready to play over and over again. It becomes too much, and the truth comes out.
It’s fitting that the LORD wants us to confess our sins to him in worship each day. It’s not that He wants us to feel weak or worthless but that He wants us to realize many things, both about us and about Him. First, we are sinners. We do not want to be sinners. We do not want to receive what sinners deserve. But that is who we are. But confessing our sins to God is always followed by absolution - God declares the forgiveness of our sins to us! The truth is that we rely on God to help us. When we confess our sins, we do so knowing that only God can help us.
There is beauty and comfort in forgiveness, especially a forgiveness that does not depend on us. God is eager to make His forgiveness known to all people. He is eager to hear from His children in prayer, to remind them of all the blessings in their life; but most importantly, to remind them of the blessing that all their sins are forgiven in Christ.
Dear friend, never forget that even when you feel like you’re wasting away and hopeless from yet another day of falling into temptations, you can go to your God in prayer. Recall the words you hear from your pastor each Sunday: “As a called servant of Christ and by his authority, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the [✙] Son and of the Holy Spirit.“ You are forgiven in His eyes.
Prayer: Lord, whenever we feel the crushing burden of our sin, show us again how blessed we are. You have lifted our transgressions from us. You have covered our sins with the robe of your Son’s righteousness. You no longer count our misdeeds against us. For this great deliverance, we rejoice and sing your saving name. Amen.