Do not remember against us our former iniquities; let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low. Psalm 79:8 – When you look at the story of Israel in the Old Testament, a situation the nation found itself in more than once was being oppressed and conquered by another nation. Egypt, Babylon, and Assyria are just a few us such nations. As a result of Israel’s choice to sin, God allowed these nations to find victory over His people Israel. In our psalm, we see the writer pleading for God’s compassion. The nation that was over Israel at the time was harsh and God’s people were groaning under the heavy hand of the oppressor. What we learn though from this plea for help can help us in our crying out to the Lord as well. Notice an aspect in the psalmist words, he never tried to dismiss the realness of Israel’s sin. He never tried to pretend with God that their sin didn’t exist or that they didn’t deserve punishment for their sin. The psalmist owned the sin, owned the truth that their sin needed punished, but chose to call on God’s compassion to show them His mercy over their sin. In our walk with God we must be willing to own the fact that we have sinned. Trying to swerve from having to admit you’ve sinned isn’t going to get you anywhere in finding God’s compassion in your life. We also must acknowledge we deserve the punishment attached to our sin. We chose the sin, no one else made us do it, so we deserve the consequences. In all that though see the heart of the psalm as well. When we admit we’ve sinned and acknowledge we deserve punishment over our sin, that is the proper place to call for God’s compassion from. God loves to show His people His mercy, with Jesus being the ultimate example of that. Own your sin, then call on God compassion over that sin. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3493
Question To Ponder: Why would God want us to admit we’ve sinned?
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