Psalm 32:1 “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience if forgiven, whose sins put out to sight” This episode talks about the definition of Joy and why it is important to truly accept God's forgiveness. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Joy & Forgiveness of Sin
Psalm 32:1 “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience if forgiven, whose sins put out to sight”
I love the word joy. I love what I feel when I have joy. Joy is different than happiness. They can feel similar but they have very different causes. Your happiness is usually dependent on your circumstances. We usually feel happy when things are going good in our lives. When things seems to be going in our favor. We tend to feel unhappy when things are going badly. When things seem to be against us. However, joy, doesn’t have to be based on our circumstances. We can find joy in any circumstance, we just have to look for it, or in some cases create it. This is why I love joy, because it is something that we can create.
I would say we can create happiness also, but that can be really hard at times. If you are really sad about something that just happened, even looking on the bright side of things, probably isn’t going to make you feel happy. However, you can probably find joy in the situation. Most people probably define joy the same way they define happiness. Rick Warren gave us this definition of joy and I think it is perfect: “Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be alright and the determined choice to praise God in every situation.” Can you see how using this definition of joy, you could have joy in any circumstance, even ones that are heartbreaking?
Someone that was very special to my prayer group passed away this week. I don’t think anyone is happy about this. However, we can find joy in it if joy is a settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of our lives. We all die the moment we were supposed to, not a moment before and not a moment after. In this joy we find the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be alright and the determined choice, that even though we are sad for the loss of our friend, we will praise God not only for the time we got to spend with her, but the fact that she is with Him in heaven right now. She is no longer suffering here on this earth.
This verse talks about the joy for those whose sins are forgiven. Those whose sins are put out of sight. What spoke to me about this part of the verse was that we need to accept that our sins our forgiven. As soon as I read that verse that thought jumped out in my mind. God forgives our sins. Jesus forgave sins when He was here on earth and He gave that power to the apostles before He left. All we need to do is ask God to forgive our sins and He will. So, why don’t we believe that? Why do we cling to our sins and not let them go? God forgives them and then we hold onto them. Why do we accept our sins as our identity? This isn’t what God wants for us. Yes, He does want us to own up to them. He wants us to repent and then He wants us to move on from them. He wants us to learn from our mistakes and move forward with a new understanding. He doesn’t want us to keep our sins and attach our identity to them.
What came to mind when I read this verse was the Parable of the Unforgiving Debtor. Jesus used this parable to explain what would happen if we do not forgive others. However, I have also heard someone talk about it in regard to not believing our sins are forgiven. You can find this parable in Matthew 18:21-35. I will not read it all to you, but I will summarize the story in case you are not familiar with it. The parable is about a king who decided to collect all he was owed. He had a servant that owed him more money than he would ever be able to pay back in several lifetimes. When he couldn’t pay the king ordered him to be sold along with his wife, children and all of his belongings. However, he begged the king and the king not only let him go, but forgave all his debt. This is awesome. This is like the Lord, he forgives our sins when we turn to him and we ask Him. However, this is not the end of the parable. If the man had truly believed that his debt was forgiven, if he would have accepted that, then his whole life could have been changed.
When we accept God’s love and mercy and we allow it to change our heart, then we become better people. We allow God’s love and mercy to spread to others because we share it freely with others. However, this man did not accept the fact that his debt was forgiven. He clung to his debt and he didn’t let it go. He couldn’t stop feeling as if he owed the king. Because of this he searched after all those that owed him money so he could gather the money he thought he owed the king. He found a servant that owed him a fraction of what he owed the king. The servant couldn’t pay him and begged for more time. However, he didn’t grant him more time. He threw him in jail until he could pay his debt.
Do you see how his life could have been so different if he had just accepted the king’s gracious offer to forgive his debt? He could have been so excited and could have passed that kind gesture on to his servant. Instead he had to cling to his debt and refuse the forgiveness. This did not end well for him as the King found out that he didn’t show others the mercy that he was shown and the king had him sent to jail to be tortured until he had repaid his debt in full. It is tragic to me that so much was lost because one man couldn’t accept the forgiveness he was given. What we do matters. We may think that what we do only affects ourselves. We may wonder why others care if we forgive as it doesn’t have anything to do with them. However, our actions affect others. If you need a visual think of a still pond. Then picture you dropping a pebble in that pond. Can you picture the circles of water rippling away from the place you dropped the rock?
We do not exist in a vacuum. When we do something it affects the world around us. When this man refused to accept the forgiveness offered to him by his king, his life was not the only life ruined. What about the man he put into jail? What about his wife and his children? What about the king? Do you think he will want to have mercy the next time someone begs? It is the same for us when we refuse to accept God’s mercy. Our refusal effects those around us. When we cling to that sin and when we make it part of our identity it can have unintended consequences on our family and friends. Instead of celebrating the fact that we have been forgiven and feeling the freedom that comes along with that, we may still feel weighed down by it and it may affect all or our interactions. We may take offense to things we wouldn’t normally, or we may be irritable or jumpy.
I don’t know what the effects might be in your specific circumstance, but I do know that there will be some. The Lord wants to forgive you, accept His forgiveness. Allow Him to forgive you and to heal you. Father Mike said today on the episode I was listening to that the more sin there is, the more grace there is because the more grace we need. Accept the grace that God wants to give you when He forgives you. Accept that you are worthy of forgiveness, not because of anything you have done, but because Christ died for us. Don’t make his sacrifice be in vain. Accept God’s forgiveness.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we ask that you give us the grace we need to accept your forgiveness. You are too kind and we often struggle with the idea that we are not worthy of your forgiveness. Although this is true and we are not worthy, you still forgive us because you love us and you sent your only son down to die on a cross for us. Let us remember this sacrifice so that we can accept that you forgive us. We love you Lord and we thank you for your forgiveness. We can never repay all we owe you and you don’t ask us to. You are amazing Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I hope the challenge to be more compassionate this week is going well. I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow. Have a blessed day!