This post is part of a 40-Day Prayer Journey through the season of Lent. Click here to learn more and read other posts in the series.
“As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:11-12).
“Don’t worry; they’re gone for good.”
How you react to that definitive statement depends on two things: (1) what’s being promised and (2) who’s making that promise.
If I’ve got a termite problem at my house and a highly rated professional exterminator assures me that he’s dealt with the infestation and that the termites aren’t coming back, I’m more likely to believe him than if the person I’ve hired shows up without any references, with a single can of bug repellent, and says, “Don’t worry; they’re gone for good.”
What’s being promised . . . and who’s making that promise. They both matter, don’t they? If the people making the promise don’t seem credible, and if what they’re promising sounds too good to be true, I won’t believe them.
Even more serious than a termite infestation in a house is the deadly sin that has so thoroughly and completely corrupted every fiber of our beings.
In the verses of the psalm quoted above, two definitive statements are being made. (1) As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is God’s love for those who fear him, and (2) as far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed our transgressions—our sins—from us.
“Don’t worry; they’re gone for good.”
God has taken away our sins—they’re so far from us, as far as the east is from the west—and they’re not coming back.
Even though we know that from God’s Word, we still wonder, fear, and doubt at times. Are they really gone? All of them?
Dear Christian, we don’t have to wonder, we don’t have to fear, we don’t have to doubt, because the psalmist in these verses is talking about the almighty, all-powerful God who keeps all of his promises to his people. Guilt and shame have no place in our hearts; God’s love and forgiveness drive them out.
If God says something, it is exactly as he says it is.
When he says our sins are forgiven, they are. When he says he loves us for Jesus’ sake, he does, so very much. When he says there’s a home in heaven waiting for us, there is. When he sees us, he doesn’t see our sins; he only sees our Savior Jesus. That’s where he directs our attention too.
Today, as you pray, ask that God would comfort and assure his children who struggle with guilt and shame that they are so very loved and forgiven for Jesus’ sake.
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Alex Brown is the marketing and content copywriter at Northwestern Publishing House. He has his Master of Divinity degree from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary and enjoys reading, writing, and spending time in God’s creation.
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