“Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the LORD.’ And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.” Psalm 32:5 NLT
They say, ‘confession is good for the soul.’ I can testify to that myself for it is true. Whether it’s confession towards God or to a friend, co-worker, neighbor, my wife, or anyone else I may have offended or done them wrong, it is a good thing to do. It may not remove the consequences, and the hurt may take a while to dissipate but you have not only cleared the air but have lifted a burden of guilt before the Lord God.
David in one of the seven penitential psalms, Psalm 32, said the following, “Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt.” (Ps.32:5a nlt) The other six penitential psalms are Ps.6, 38, 51,102, 130, 143. David describes his body as wasting away as he refused to confess his sin. His body was drained, and his strength was gone as absorbed by the summer heat. He felt God’s heavy hand upon him. Keeping his sin to himself, which really wasn’t to himself for God knew, just continued to eat him up inside. David needed some good for his soul.
When David confessed his sin to the Lord, the burden was lifted. God had forgiven him and took away his guilt. David said, “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!” (Ps.32:1 nlt) David’s soul was restored, his body rejuvenated with God’s living water of forgiveness, he has a clean slate, and is surrounded by God’s protection. If you are in a refusal to confess state of mind, take heed to David’s testimony. It will continue to sap you of your energy until you make things right with the Lord and confess your sin to Him and whoever else needs to hear your confession. You will be forgiven, and your guilt will disappear and that will be good for your soul.
“Then the LORD said to Joshua, ‘Point the spear in your hand toward Ai, for I will hand the town over to you.’ Joshua did as he was commanded……… Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal.” Joshua 8:18, 30 NLT
There may be times in your life you wish you could turn around and go back either to a previous job, a former place of residency, a school you transferred from, or to anything other than being in the military. You have come to the conclusion that you have made a mistake. I have been there several times in my life, but one sure thing I found out is if God has lead me all the way, I didn’t make a mistake. Understand you haven’t either if you truly know the Lord. Last week in our reading of Joshua 7, Israel had thought it was a mistake to enter the Promised Land, their new territory. They were defeated in battle by a much smaller fighting force from the city of Ai. Joshua, in particular cried out, “Oh, Sovereign LORD, why did you bring us across the Jordan River if you are going to let the Amorites kill us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side!” (Jos. 7:7 NLT) What Joshua didn’t know at the time their defeat was due to their sin and not due to a mistake in entering the land. If we look hard enough, myself included, I’m sure we can find some losing battles in our new territory that were cause by sin and not as a result of a mistake.
The Lord knows what we are made of; “For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust.” (Ps. 103:14 NLT) He also knows of our sin nature; “All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own.” (Is. 53:6a NLT) Yet the Lord forgives us of our sin as we confess to Him and continues to lead us in the path He has set for us. The apostle John writes the most memorable verse for confession of sins in 1 John 1:9, “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” (NLT) It is the Lord’s desire that we follow Him and are successful in our new territory. We can say with the Psalmist King David, “You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.” (Ps. 16:11 NLT)
Yes, God will discipline us as we go our own way. He only wants the best for us as any parent does for their children, especially when they are embarking upon something new. God wanted the best for Israel in the land He led them to and He wants the best for us where He is leading us. The best for Israel and for us today is total obedience to God Almighty who has done such great things for us. As we acknowledge His greatness recognizing it is only through Him we have blessings we never thought we would have, we begin to understand it is only by His leading we are in the place we are today.
God restored his blessing to Israel upon them getting rid of the sin before them. We read in the beginning of chapter 8 after the disaster of chapter 7, “Then the LORD said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take all your fighting men and attack Ai, for I have given you the king of Ai, his people, his town, and his land.’” (Jos. 8:1 NLT) The Lord not only guaranteed victory, but permitted them to take the plunder and the livestock for themselves. An important insight here is the Lord does not hold back any good thing from His people. If Achan had only waited on the Lord and not coveted, stealing the material goods he would have received in God’s timing, Israel would have not been defeated and Achan would be around to enjoy the spoils of victory.
If you have overstepped and gone ahead of God by going about things your own way and it didn’t turn out so good. God is in the restoration business. He knows we are sheep and go our way. Confess it to God, restore your fellowship with Him, and be obedient in the future with faith and courage in His leading.
“LORD, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive? But you offer forgiveness that we might learn to fear you.” Psalm 130:3-4 NLT
Have you ever kept track of your sins? Do you have an on-going count for the week, month, or year? If you’re like me, the obvious answer is no. But there are some that you just can’t shake loose even after confessing them to God. They resurface in your mind from time to time causing guilt feelings and uncertainty of God’s forgiveness. Rest assured your sins are forgiven if confession to the Lord God was made. Psalm 103:2 says, “He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.” (NLT) Your sins are gone. The east from the west cannot be measured without any substance as starting points. Your sin, the substance, does not exist, it’s gone. Not only do they not exist, but the Lord does not remember them, “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” (Is. 43:25 ESV)
There may be some who think my sins would be easy to count as they are not many, or I have not sinned at all. But think again. Every selfish thought or mean spirited action against your neighbor, being prideful, a slip of the tongue using God’s name in vain, lying to prevent getting into trouble, going 80 mph in a 55mph zone, and being short of patience with your spouse are all examples of what the Lord considers sin, even though we made not see it that way. None of us are perfect, we were all born with a sin nature so it’s natural that we sin, but that is no excuse to sin or deny that we do.
Think of all the little incidental sins mentioned above along with others you can think of. Add those we would consider bigger sins and try imagine how many there have been in your lifetime. Now compare that with today’s scripture verse, “LORD, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive?” I’m sure the list we compile for ourselves would not be as extensive as God’s would be, after all He doesn’t miss anything. But the good news is the Lord forgives as the rest of the verse indicates, “But you offer forgiveness that we might learn to fear you.” God’s forgiveness is never-ending and He remembers them no more as long as we confess and ask for forgiveness. This should be of great comfort to us for our sin is also never-ending as long as we are on this side of heaven.
Word for the Soul 