"I Forgive"

Remember those fateful words. You said you would never say them in your home. After all, you heard them so many times when you were young. They echo in your mischievous memory as if they had been verbalized just the other day or maybe a couple of hours ago. Your mom said them to you and if you’re a wife and a mother, you have said them to your children. “Wait ‘til your father gets home!”.
Stirring words. They were sharp and painful words especially if you had parents who believed in a punishment to fit the crime. In nineteen-sixty-three, our middle school put on the comic opera, “The Mikado.” If Miss Lovejoy had told us it was an opera, we probably wouldn’t have done it. It was light hearted and very much a romance in which one song rang true for most of us. No, it wasn’t those syrupy romance songs. Most of us were not into romance yet and it bothered us to see our parents kissing. How times have changed but I will leave that for another time. One of our favourite songs used those same words. “Let the punishment fit the crime.” Makes me think that Gilbert must have heard those words himself in the years of his youth in the 1840's.
I think these words are timeless. Can you imagine Eve saying them to young Cain. Just the other day I was reading about David and I realized that he may have not heard those exact words, he must have felt them in his mind and heart. Imagine with me. David arrives at the point of recognizing and admitting to himself, his own humanity and failure. Imagine if you will what it must have felt like knowing God knew and was there watching. David writes, “When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me.” Ps 32.
But be reassured my friend, it is only His hand on your shoulder. God in His infinite wisdom stands there ready to help us. He is not there to punish but to help us learn. He wants us to recognize that sin hurts. It hurts Him, it hurts others and it hurts us. That is why David continues, “I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said,’I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.’ And you forgave the iniquity of my sin.”
Deep down, many of us have sins that still burn a deep hole in our hearts. Our parents never found out, our families never knew, our loved ones never suspected. But God is still standing there waiting. Ready to forgive and put His hand on our shoulder and say, “I forgive you.” Are you looking for peace? Read all the words in this Psalm, especially, “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him.”
Go to Him now, His hand of forgiveness is reaching out to you. He is waiting to hear from us and to hear our words, “Father, I’m sorry........”
Something to think about.
Rob