“Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.”
— Psalm 51:1 (NRSV)
The power of the gospel message is
too marvellous for human comprehension, by the fact of God’s mercy to redeem us
in Christ Jesus. This prayer of David’s for the revival of the joy of his
salvation in Psalm 51 is, in actuality, the perfect model prayer for the sinner
in their dire straits.
Twice David asks the Lord to blot out his transgression
(verse 1) and his iniquity (verse 9).
What he is really asking God for is
the rewriting of his personal history, such that he would have a second chance
at a godly life. It should be a great encouragement to us, that David, who had
a heart so close to the Lord,
struggled with some horrendous sins, notwithstanding adultery and murder.
When God Rewrites Our Personal History
I have heard my fair share of
testimonies; maybe you have too. Almost nothing moves me more than hearing how
God rescued a life from a living hell, which was also destined for hell. Tears of awe-soaked joy well-up within
me. Many, many stories are sin-ravaged.
Then I consider my own story. I
think about all the things I have reason to be ashamed about, and guilty for,
and all that negative emotion has been dealt with. I
can experience knowledge of my despair, to know that sin, without feeling I’m
in despair. This is a marvellous reality; to not be scared of the past in any
way; to accept it as part of me.
What many non-Christians don’t
really get about faith in Jesus is it’s not about perfection; it’s about
forgiveness and grace to be given a new life, free from a soul that disparages
itself. Many non-Christians are completely unaware of the role guilt and shame
plays in their lives; that they, without God, are driven (unconsciously) by
fear.
The Christian has had their
history rewritten in such a way as the record of those wrongs has been blotted
out. Not that they deny those terrible things happened; no way! Those terrible
things that happened are a sizeable part of the testimony of God’s faithfulness to
journey with us, before we were saved, as he led us to himself.
So, though our histories have been
rewritten, we do not deny the past, because it is power for our future, and for
the evangelising of others who yet do not know their Lord.
When we experience the miracle
that is God rewriting our histories we know the gospel is true. Those feelings
of condemnation vanish and we can look people in the eye and are finally able to love without conditions.
***
God is in the business of turning
lives around and rewriting our histories. No matter what we have done or where
we have been, God has a new history for each one of us. It’s part of his Divine
Plan.
© 2013 S. J. Wickham.
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