Devotional Song: ... Go to this link … Please take the time to take in a video of the contemporary Christian group, Point of Grace, singing the poignant song … Heal the Wounds; … declaring the reality that God’s mercies are there forever of the Christian to be cleansed and healed for past sins … that God will heal the wounds even though He leaves the scars to remind us of who we are in Him.
Highlight Passage Psalm 32: 3 [NKJV] …
3 When I kept silent, my bones grew old … through my groaning all the day long.
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Highlight Context - Psalm 32: 1-5 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
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Reference Passage #1 - Psalm 51 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Another confessional song of repentance by King David
Reference Passage #2 - Lamentations 3: 22-23 [NKJV] …
22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed. 23 They are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness!.
… God’s faithfulness and His mercies are forever available.
Reference Passage #3 - 1st John 1: 9 [NKJV] …
9 If we confess our sins, He (The Lord) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness.
… God’s promise of cleansing from past, present, and future sin! - [emphasis added]
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread devotional entry, authored by Dave Branon, told a illustrative story for his readers today. He wrote: [A Pastor] was chatting with an older man to whom he had just been introduced. “So, you used to work for a utility company,” the pastor said, naming the organization. “Sure did,” the man responded. The pastor remarked that when he was a kid the cables from that company ran across his parents’ property. “Where did you live?” the man asked. When the pastor told him, the man said, “I remember that property. I had a tough time keeping the cable warning signs up. Kids were always shooting them down.” When the pastor’s face flushed with embarrassment, the man said, “You were one of the shooters, weren’t you?” And indeed he was.
The pastor in the story apparently labeled his confessional story: “Be sure your signs will find you out,” … a clever play on Moses’ words in Numbers 32: 23b …
“Be sure your sin will find you out.”
And perhaps readers here with me can identify with this story, … perhaps having past sins which were uncovered, … post-transgression. Or perhaps you’ve remembered sins which have been hidden and never confessed or revealed to another soul.
King David had that problem in the Bathsheba affair, where his sins of adultery and murder were covered up by the King for over a year. But his sins caught up with him in the Prophet Nathan, who “outed” the King [see 2nd Samuel, Chapter 12], which ultimately led David to write two of the most provocative Psalms in the Bible (see Psalms 51 and 32 - written historically and chronologically in that order). The sins of David certainly found him out and were uncovered. But as we read in these two repentant songs, David came clean with God AND God’s people, expressing how burdensome his coverup had been and committing Himself to the restoration and renewal provided by God’s forgiveness (see also Lamentations 3: 22-23 and 1st John 1: 9).
Aren’t you glad, as am I, that we have a faithful and forgiving Lord, Who is willing and able, as the group Point of Grace sings, in the linked song above, to heal our wounds … even though He so often leaves the scars to remind us whom we are … AND … Who He is?
My Prayer for Today … O Lord, … I repeat my prayer of yesterday … that Your mercies are new every morning and Your faithfulness is forever. You are healing my wounds in spite of the scars which remain … to remind me of Your cleansing and renewal. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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