Psalm 130:3-4 "If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? (4) But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared."
Sometimes, it is much easier to see the wrong in others than it is to see it in
ourselves. I can much more easily spot the errors of others than I can
look at myself and see the wrong. But when I stop to look in the mirror, I
realize how imperfect I am. And then today's verse tells me that the Lord looks
even deeper than I see myself. "If thou, LORD, shouldest mark
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?" If the Lord tallied all my
sins and held them against me, I would not have the strength or intestinal
fortitude to dare try to stand and be the judge of the hearts of another.
Let me take a side note here to say that the Word of God is the standard by
which we know what is right and what is wrong. But I cannot judge anyone else's
heart. God does. And if He marked my iniquities against me, I could not stand
before Him in any capacity.
"But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared."
I'm so thankful for verse four, aren't you? "There is
forgiveness with God." Let's take a moment to think about the cost of
forgiveness. Verse four is a definite truth, but does God simply look at
us, wink, and say, "Well they can't help themselves. They're only
human." Isn't that the excuse that we hear very often and sometimes
it is the excuse that comes out of our own mouths. But God does not
accept that as a proper excuse for our sins and iniquities. What about when we
say, "I'll never do that again"? Or what if we say, "I
will do a lot of good deeds to make up for that wrong"> Does God
accept our penance as being the basis of forgiveness? No, He doesn't;
yet, "there is forgiveness with God".
Let's look to God's Word to see the basis of His forgiveness toward us.
"To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted
in the beloved. (7) In whom we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;."
(Ephesians 1:6-7) These two verses are a part of an extra long sentence
written by the Apostle Paul. But I want us to see and understand the basis of
all forgiveness that is found in the Lord. God has "made us accepted
in the beloved." The beloved is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. We
have redemption through the shed blood of Jesus. And, we have forgiveness of
sins through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. He has made us accepted through
the work of Christ and it's all by His amazing grace. There is no other basis
for redemption nor for forgiveness. Thank God for His Amazing Saving Grace!
I love that old hymn, Nothing But the Blood of Jesus by Robert Lowry:
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Refrain:
O precious is the flow
that makes me white as snow;
no other fount I know;
nothing but the blood of Jesus.