Honest Confession Is Good for the Soul

“Both we and our fathers have sinned; we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedness.”-Psalm 106:6.  “Many times he delivered them, but they were rebellious in their purposes and were brought low through their iniquity.  Nevertheless, He looked upon their distress, when He heard their cry.  For their sake, He remembered His covenant, and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love.  He caused them to be pitied by all those who held them captive.”-Psalm 106: 44-46 (ESV).

Psalm 106 is another historical Psalm, but this one, unlike 105 which recounts God’s faithful dealings with his people, gives incident after incident of the Israelites’ rebellion when they strayed from God’s laws and rebelled against His purposes.  That is why I entitled these thoughts, “Honest Confession Is Good for the Soul.” Many of their sins are recalled.  They built a golden calf and worshiped it (v. 19).  They forgot the wondrous works God had done to release them from Egyptian bondage and to deliver them from the waters of the Red Sea (21, 23).  They complained and murmured in the wilderness (25).  They failed to destroy the pagan nations from the land as God had commanded and worshiped the idols already set up there (34, 38).  They sacrificed their own children to idols (38).  Sundry sins marked the journey of deliverance through the wilderness to the Promised Land.  Had God made a mistake in choosing to save the nation?

Then we read God’s verdict and learn why honest confession is good for the soul:  “He looked upon their distress…He heard their cry” (44).  Because of His covenant and His steadfast love, God relented from destroying them (45-46).  In reading this Psalm and the catalog of sins the chosen people committed, I am reminded of what Paul taught when some in the early church had a wrong doctrine about sin. In writing to the Roman Christians, Paul asked: “What shall we say then?  Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?  God forbid.  Haw shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?’ (Romans 6:1-2).  The doctrine of Antinomianism (i. e. against law, against morality) was abroad.  The reasoning was:  “If God pardons sin so easily, then is it not reasonable that the more people sin, the greater God’s forgiveness of that sin?  The false belief was growing that the more they sinned, the larger would be God’s forgiveness for them. How strongly did Paul answer them!  “God forbid!”  God did not provide free grace for us to keep on dwelling in sin!  Yes, we err.  We fail often in our Christian walk and fall short of God’s expectations for the Christian.  But to deliberately choose again to go into rebellion and sin was not God’s intent so that His grace might abound.  Sin belonged to the old life before conversion.  In coming to Christ, the Christian has experienced a change of direction.  He flees from sin and seeks righteousness.  And when he does err, “honest confession and repentance are good for the soul.”  God does hear the cry of the erring Christian and stands ready to replace guilt with joy.  Justification by faith is not a legal matter between the believer and God; it is a living relationship that brings new purpose and meaning into a redeemed life.  As the forgiven psalmist proclaimed:  “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!” (Psalm 107:2a).

Prayer:  Thank You, Lord, for leading us to see our sin and rebellion and to cry for forgiveness.  Thank You for hearing and restoring us to Your favor.  Amen.

Who Can Measure God’s Compassion?

“Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of His inheritance? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.” –Micah 7:18-20 (ESV).

Who can measure God’s compassion? Of course the answer to the question is that God’s compassion is limitless, His mercy is unfathomable, and His patience is boundless. But, knowing this, we His people should not expect favors when we know to do right and still keep going astray.

Micah lived and prophesied in the eighth century BC. His prophecies were directed against Samaria, capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and against Jerusalem, capital of the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Historically, the Assyrians had begun to be the dominant power in the ancient Near East about 740 BC. Micah warns of God’s judgment because of idolatry, leaving the one true God for idols worshiped in “high places,” shrines scattered in many groves. Some of the blatant sins Micah condemned were religious infidelity, economic injustice, false preaching, and self-serving leaders. Is it that the evils and rebellion of any age paint the same grim picture? Reading Micah reminds one of our current dilemmas, with terrorism, injustice and rebellion against what is right and good. Is there any hope for gaining God’s forgiveness? Is His heart of compassion still beating for such a depraved people as our fallen nation?

Far be it from us to follow the practice of continuing in sin so that God’s grace and compassion can be expanded. That seemed to be the reasoning of some in the early church era when Paul had to reprimand them, asking them these rhetorical questions: “What shall we say then? Are we to continuie in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:1-2, ESV). Likewise, back in the eighth century, Micah strongly pointed out the heinous sins of the people. They were not to think that because God was in the business of forgiveness that they could continue in sin. They could not merely say, “Is not the KLord in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us.” (Micah 3:11b). There is a means of dealing with the coming judgment. It is called a turning-back-to-God. Micah recommended strongly that “they beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not life us sword against nationk, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Micah 4:3, ESV). Indeed, who is a God like our God? When His people turn again to Him, He is compassionate and delights in steadfast love. Scott Langston, in commenting on Micah 7:18-20, wrote: “The incomparable God of patience, mercy, compassion and faithfulness will forgive and renew His people” (“Micah,” Holman Bible Dictionary, 1991, p. 959).

To experience again the measureless compassion and forgiveness of God, may we, like the old Shaker song implores, “Turn, turn…so we’ll come out right.” That is God’s plan for us, and His compassion is large enough to forgive us and restore us. Let us pray for our individual turning, for our church and community’s turning, for our nation’s turning. God stands ready with compassion, but we must return to Him.