AP

Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.  Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. … Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him.

Psalm 32:1-2, 10 

As I read today’s verses I can’t help feeling that a fundamental reason why there is so much mental illness and distress in our world today, and particularly in our own society and culture, is because we have been brain-washed with the lie that the best way to deal with the feeling of ‘guilt’ is to convince ourselves that ‘SIN’ is not a reality!

Perhaps the Apostle John was reflecting on Psalm 32 when he wrote: “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.” (1 John 1:8-10).

Psalm 32 starts off with the same Hebrew word as Psalm 1, and it is more literally an exclamation: “O the happiness of … [‘the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly’ or ‘the one whose transgressions are forgiven’ etc.]”.  I must ask myself, ‘What will give me the most happiness/joy/feeling of blessedness?’ – trying to convince myself that I am NOT a sinner, or ADMITTING that I AM a sinner who needs a Saviour?

If there was no Saviour available, then I would perhaps be better to try to live under the delusion of the first option!  But because God is a God of ‘unfailing LOVE’ (chesed) – a ‘love’ (agape) that GAVE HIS ONLY SON to be my Saviour (John 3:16), I would be a fool not to go for the second option!

King David, of course, did not know the finer details of this ‘Saviour’, but throughout the Psalms he makes it clear that his ONLY HOPE was to anticipate such a ‘Saviour/Redeemer’.  As just one of countless examples he closes Psalm 19 with the words, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.”

Dr James Simpson discovered the anaesthetic properties of chloroform thus revolutionising the practice of surgery, but when asked what he considered to be his greatest discovery ever, he replied, “When I discovered that I was a sinner and that Jesus is my Saviour”!  Have you made this discovery for yourself?  Are you TRUSTING JESUS as YOUR Saviour?

“Great Prophet of my God, my tongue would bless your name; by you the joyful news of our salvation came; the joyful news of sins forgiven, of hell subdued, and peace with heaven. Jesus my great High Priest offered his blood and died; my guilty conscience seeks no sacrifice beside; his powerful blood did once atone, and now he pleads before the throne.” (Isaac Watts).