Thoughts On Sin And Forgiveness

The meditation for today is on Psalm 51:1-17 NIV:

[1] "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
[2] Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
[3] For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
[4] Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.
[5] Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
[6] Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
[7] Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
[8] Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
[9] Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
[10] Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
[11] Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
[12] Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
[13] Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you.
[14] Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
[15] Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise.
[16] You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
[17] My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise."

This such a beautiful psalm, and it is surprising to me in a few ways. It was written by David after his adultery with Bathsheba, and murder of Uriah. Most of the verses are actually focused on the mercy of God and his forgiveness, rather than wretchedness of David himself as a sinner, adulterer and murderer. He has a simple recognition of his sin, and the reality of the seriousness. David acknowledges his sin and his state, in verse 4 he writes, "...so You are right in Your verdict and justified when You judge." David isn't trying to blame shift, to side-step his own guilt, but when confronted He admitted and recognized his sin, and the fact that he rightfully deserved judgement.

Another interesting note, is that David did not try to earn his way back into favor. There is not action plan of redemption, no re-earning the Lord's trust, but rather a simple acknowledgment, and contrition for his sins. Most of the heavy-lifting in this situation was on God's side. David knew there was nothing he could do to re-earn His trust, or to earn His forgiveness, rather he depended on God's compassion and loving kindness.

I was just thinking about forgiveness and the incredible gift that it is in our lives. Forgiveness from God and forgiveness from one another. There is a conscious choice that is made to cancel the debt of sin, to restore relationship and to choose love. Sorrow and contrition are important on the one side, the sinners side, but the one who has been sinned against must choose to forgive. Forgiveness is not so much a feeling, as an active, conscious choice. The feeling of forgiveness seems to me to be the restoration of relationship and renewal of trust, or the healing of the wound caused by the sin.

One other note, forgiveness is not always about sin, but can also be related to unintentional wounding. Again, the one who wounds another must express sorrow and contrition, but that is usually after they have been confronted, or made aware of how they hurt someone else. We can easily hurt someone and be completely unaware. Our words can be received completely differently then they were meant, we can interfere, cause trouble, fall short of expectations, all without any conscious knowledge.

In the same way we can actually be sinning in many areas of our lives and be completely unaware, due to a lack of knowledge, or understanding. When we first come to the Lord, we have little or no knowledge of His purpose or plans for our life, nor of His law or will. In the same way when we first enter into any relationship, we don't know the other person's sensitive areas, where they are easily wounded or hurt. We may be doing something that is completely wrong, and not know it at all. One of the things that is interesting in reading the Catholic saints, especially those that focus on the internal struggle, the closer they get to God the more they are aware of their own sinfulness. They become aware of things they have been doing wrong their entire life, but until they have revelation from God, they had no idea. I find this is the case in all our lives, that the deeper we go in the Lord, the more areas He touches and the more areas we understand need to change, because we are outside His will for us. We could just choose to never grow deeper and thus remain unaware, nor is this an invitation to remain naive about sin in our life. In reality we must understand the flow of revelation, and how it related to an awareness of sin, and the see the grace we must extend to ourselves and others as we potentially all operate at different levels of revelation.

Another important thought, there is a huge difference between the sins that we knowingly commit and those we commit unknowingly. Sin is sin, and the Greek word that is most often translated as sin, actually means to miss the mark. In other words, anytime we miss the mark, miss God's will or purpose, we are sinning. Sometimes we knowingly are sinning, other times we are sinning, missing the mark, and have no idea. The Catholic description of sins had something called venial sins, sins that were not serious. I think this is somewhat related to those sins that we are unconsciously committing, although not completely as we could be committing some serious sin, just completely unaware that it is sin. Anyway, I think the Lord, considers our heart, our conscious choice, in the same way that we would consider the conscious choice a loved one or acquaintance makes in doing something they know will hurt us, but still chooses to do that very thing. It is the conscious choice to sin that I think the Lord considers serious, for this is outright rebellion and rejection. We may not think we are trying to hurt God, but we are saying we don't want to follow him, or that we like anther plan for our life better than His.

Lord, my desire is to live my life within Your plan and purpose for me, as well as to live in such a way that I am not hurting others. Help me to grow in revelation, and strength of will to consciously choose the right path always.