Forgiveness

 October 27, 2023

I came to Christ as I was entering my teenage years, so it’s been over sixty years that I’ve known and been known by, Jesus. The walk of faith (as Paul describes it) hasn’t been a straight line moving higher and closer to the Lord with each passing day. Sometimes it’s been more like a toddler’s scribbling than a recognizable path. 

Hopefully, there has been improvement. I’ve learned a few things over the years, but as those years have gone by, I’ve noticed a subtle shift in my prayers that’s not good: I don’t ask for forgiveness as regularly as I once did. I think it’s because today’s sins are more subtle, less noticeable than they once were. But that makes them no less sinful. All it takes to separate two objects chained together is for a single link to break. 

The ancients had a much clearer understanding of the sacredness of life than we seem to have today. Make no mistake; history is full of bloodshed and barbarity, but at one time there was an almost instinctual understanding that something is terribly wrong in this world, which is why sacrifices of all sorts was commonplace. The gods needed appeasing.

I was reading in 2 Chronicles this morning Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the new Temple in Jerusalem. No less than five times in his prayer he says, “When your people…hear from heaven and forgive.” He lists five different scenarios where the nation would go astray, forgetting who they are and who God is, thus needing forgiveness. Unlike most of our corporate prayers today, there is only a single mention of God meeting the needs of his people. The prayer is instead, a single long litany of all the ways God’s people could sin, and the repeated request that God would hear and forgive.

God reminded me this morning of my continuing deep need for forgiveness. I needed it when I started out, and I need it today. “Lord, hear from heaven…and forgive.”