PSALM 65:1-3 – Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed. O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come. When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions.”
THEME OF THE DAY: WHERE SIN DID ABOUND, GRACE DID MORE. Ever feel like David in today’s Psalm? There are many moving emotions in his heart. He knows God is worthy of and due praise – Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion. David also acknowledges that keeping one’s commitments to God is right and to be maintained – and to you shall vows be performed. A third emotion, and our focus for today, is the sense of being overwhelmed by our sins – When iniquities prevail against me.
Who has not been saddened by our many spiritual battles lost to temptation? Who has not sensed their iniquities overwhelming them like a flash flood does a dry creek bed? And what Christian has not felt the painful whisper from the devil, “You have sinned still yet again. You have exhausted God’s grace. He won’t forgive you again.”
David is feeling this way, but then he shifts his attention away from himself and his sin to the God of all grace – You atone for our transgressions. One cannot help to think of what the Apostle Paul tells us in the closing words of the fifth chapter of his letter to the Romans – Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 5:20-21).
What are the lessons to be learned from the words and experiences of David and Paul? At least two. First, God is always willing to forgive and restore His children who feel the weight of sin upon them. He is not reluctant to extend grace to us. Just the opposite. He delights in showing mercy in forgiving us – If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared (Psalm 130:3-4).
The other lesson is implied. David feels like his sin is winning over him. Yet, we know that once in Christ, justified, sin shall not prevail. It will not have dominion over us (Romans 6:14). What this practically means is no child of God is beyond the reach of His forgiving and restoring grace. No sin is too heinous or drives us so far from the Lord that He is unable to bring us back to Himself.
As we ponder this truth, the opening of today’s scripture becomes a passion in our lives – praise. We cannot but praise the God of all grace for what He has done and will do for us; continue to pour out grace upon grace till we arrive in the land of no more sin, no more battles, and no more need of His grace that forgives His erring children.
PRAYER: “Father, I praise You for Your patient love with me.”
QUOTE: “Never despair of God’s forgiveness. His grace is greater than our sin.”
In the affection of Christ Jesus,
Pastor Jim