Reading: Psalm 51: 1-9
As we read about the process David goes through after his affair with Bathsheba in this Psalm, I'm sure many of us can relate when we look at the sin in our own lives. We can learn a few things from David's response, however.
First off, David runs to the right place after he sins. He runs right to God and lays out his heart. Many times, people will turn to more sin, or drugs, or any other coping strategy that suites them. But when we run to God, we are promised He will be there, with unfailing love and open-arms, waiting to help us make it better and to grow from it.
Secondly, David confesses his sin. He puts it all out there for God to hear. And though we know that God knows all about our lives, there is a huge portion of the healing process that occurs in the confession part of our sin. When we can embrace it, we can learn to let it go. When we try to hide or cover up our sin, we will find ourselves with a hanging guilt and run other places to feel better. Put it all out there for God, even though He already knows.
David also cries out for mercy and to be cleansed. We need to do the same in the midst of sin. When we realize the power of God's mercy and the healing He can give, we will find ourselves starting to come back to normal life before our sin. God will wipe out the sin we confess and repent from. He will turn away from it, and wipe the slate clean when we bring it to Him.
We see a result of our confession when we experience the joy God places back in our lives. He wants to restore us, but we need to be willing. When we have the ability to bring our sins to Him, He will forgive. We then can experience a full love and joy after sin.
Reading: Luke 22:63-23:25
We can see clearly how Jesus took our place in this reading. A tangible example is when He changes places with Barabbas. Even though Jesus was a perfect man, living a life of absolutely no sin or lack of faith, He is the One Who took our place with scorning and insults, then to be led on to an excruciating death in order for us to be saved from the sins we have. We've read this story twice before in our reading plan, but each time we need to realize just how great this love was that was poured out for us, so that we may have the opportunity to have life. The punishment we should have taken was taken by Jesus, Who was guilty of nothing. But without His sacrifice, we could not come to God and break away from the rituals and traditions of the Old Testament culture. Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice, cleansing us of our wrongs.
Take time to thank Him today for His amazing love and gift.
Reading: Joshua 8:1-9:15
There is an example in this reading that shows us how God takes our sins and failures and turns them into good. We read how the Israelites finally take over the land of Ai, a feat they could not accomplish in the past. God however, takes this past failure and turns it into a victory, giving over the land to the Israelites. How many times do we get to see God do this in our lives? Maybe you used to party and get drunk, but now that you've seen this fault in your life and have moved on from it, you are able to talk to kids who want to fall into the same mistakes. It doesn't matter what it is, but it matters that God can turn it into a victory. God can swap out our sins and turn them into a blessing for us and others. Just giving Him that power can turn lives around. As we read about how the Israelites took over Ai, we can see the concrete example of how God works past our failures and fears. Just allow Him to take those and turn them into something great.
God is able to swap out the messes in our lives for blessing. When we fail miserably, we can just run to Him and confess, then He will restore us and cleanse us. We see how He did that with His Son on the cross. Jesus swapped with us so that we may have the opportunity to choose life. God can swap our fears and past failures into future victories, used to spread His work.
(Photo Credit: http://www.southernsoftware.com/blog/2011/07/21/our-faith-2/)
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