Woman to Woman: Full Forgiveness & Overflowing Redemption

This week we find ourselves reading the eleventh song of ascents – Psalm 130.

“From the depths of despair, O Lord, I call for your help. Hear my cry, O Lord. Pay attention to my prayer.” (verses 1-2, NLT)

Here we find the psalmist in his deep distress, crying out to God for mercy. He feels as if he is drowning, calling out for God’s help to pay attention to his prayer. What is the source of his anguish?

“Lord, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive? But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear you.” (verses 3-4, NLT)

His despair comes from within himself. It comes from knowing there is sin which is separating him from the joy of relationship with his God.

The psalmist recognizes that apart from divine forgiveness, he would be without hope; and the good news is that because of Christ, God is willing to forgive him. God encourages each of us to come to Him in the assurance He will forgive.

“I am counting on the Lord; yes, I am counting on him. I have put my hope in his word. I long for the Lord more than sentries long for the dawn, yes, more than sentries long for the dawn.”
(verses 5-6, NLT)

His hope, and ours, is found in God’s Word to us. He waited as a watchman, a guard, who sat on the wall waiting for the sun rise. In waiting, he longed for the full blessing of the Lord to come and waited expectantly.

“O Israel, hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is unfailing love. His redemption overflows. He himself will redeem Israel from every kind of sin.” (verses 7-8, NLT)

Jesus paid the costly price for our redemption and He redeems every part of our pasts. As we bring our sins and wrongdoings before Him, we are assured of overflowing redemption.

“The way to cover our sins is to uncover it by confession.”
(Richard Sibbes, as quoted in The Holman Old Testament Commentary, Vol. 12, page 297)

May we call upon the Lord for forgiveness, acknowledging our sins.
May we turn from our wrongdoing and inerrant ways,
and live in His overflowing redemption.

Photo by John Wilson on Unsplash

3 comments:

Bev Rihtarchik - Walking Well With GodJune 15, 2020 at 5:52 AM
Joanne,
Beautiful post. We beat ourselves up over our sin when God's sweet redemption and forgiveness is there for the asking. I think experiencing His full forgiveness would be akin to standing in front of a fire hose. Thank you for the call to take God up on His offer. Your words are a balm this am.
Blessings,
Bev xx
aspiritofsimplicityJune 17, 2020 at 4:12 AM
It is through his forgiveness that we find strength and comfort. It washes over us and gives us hope.
Barbara HarperJune 18, 2020 at 2:58 PM
What a great quote from Sibbes. One of my sons didn't like to admit when he had done wrong as a child. We had to continually stress to him that for it to be forgiven, it had to be admitted first. I'm so thankful for God's grace and forgiveness.

Thank you for stopping by, we love hearing from you. Please feel free to contact us with any prayer requests or questions by commenting below or emailing us at the About Us page.

Monday, June 15, 2020

Full Forgiveness & Overflowing Redemption

3 comments: