Monday Reflection – July 19, 2021 The Joy of Forgiveness

Monday Reflection – July 19, 2021
The Joy of Forgiveness

Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Psalm 32: 1

G. Campbell Morgan beautifully describes Psalm 32 in this way: “It is a Psalm of penitence, but it is also the song of a ransomed soul rejoicing in the wonders of the grace of God. Sin is dealt with; sorrow is comforted; ignorance is instructed.” David speaks of the awesome happiness we experience when we know of the forgiveness of God. Our sins are no longer exposed; they are covered. Psalm 32 shows the blessedness of life when we make full confession and repentance of our sins. David can personally testify of the joy of forgiveness based on his own life. This great man of God – a man after God’s heart – had some significant seasons of sin and spiritual decline. Among these are David’s time at Ziklag (1 Samuel 27, 29-30) and David’s sin regarding Bathsheba and Uriah (2 Samuel 11). After both occasions, David came to confession, repentance, and forgiveness. Therefore, David knew what it was like to be a guilty sinner. He knew the seriousness of sin and what a joy it is to be truly forgiven.

Psalm 32 comes from the depths of a conscience that has been wounded and healed. We can sense and feel the deep emotions and a gush of rapture from a heart experiencing in its freshness the new joy of forgiveness. This joy of forgiveness is available for all to experience. When we receive forgiveness through Jesus Christ and our faith in Him, then we have real joy. There is the joy of deliverance from sullen remorse and of the dreadful pangs of an accusing conscience. David says in verses 3 and 4: “While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.” When our consciences are alive and our hearts refuse to confess our wrongs, remorse and dread creep over us.

When we confess our sins and receive God’s forgiveness, there is the blessedness of exuberant gladness that lasts forever. The joy that springs in the pardoned heart, and is fed by closeness of communion with God, and by continual obedience to His guidance, has in it nothing that can fade, nothing that can burn out, nothing that can be disturbed. The deeper the penitence the surer the rebound into gladness. The more we contemplate the depths of our sinfulness, the more we trust in Christ and his salvific work at Calvary, and the more we rise into the heights of thankfulness and enjoy unending communion and fellowship with Christ.

We who experience God’s forgiveness must not take such for granted and continue to live frivolously and recklessly. Rather, we ought to walk circumspectly, and shun the very appearance of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22). We ought also to remember that while God forgives us, we have an obligation to forgive those who have wronged us. When we utter the Lord’s Prayer, we must remember that we say, “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). We also learn that forgiveness has no limitations nor does it expire, and we face the consequences of unforgiveness by God when we don’t forgive others (Matthew 18:21-35). As we enjoy the joy of forgiveness, let us freely offer forgiveness to those who wrong us. Amen.

Jermaine Gibson