May 6 Confession is Good for the Soul

Psalm 32:5 Then I acknowledge my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. Is aid, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD."-and you forgave the guilt of all my sin.

David's psalm, his poetry written as we might journal our walk with God...that's really what the psalms are, a very personal journal of someone's walk with God. However, I think we can make some mistakes if we use these psalms as the basis for our theology...or if we do so without really understanding what is going on.

First when I think of what forgiveness means, I know many people don't get it. Forgiveness, God's forgiveness first is God's response to our desire for restored fellowship. We acknowledge that we have offended Him, that we have violated the plan He gave us for peace with Him and with each other, and we miss that fellowship. Forgiveness, and God gives it readily, as does a human father to a remorseful child, restores the broken relationship - that rift which occurs when we know we have disappointed our father or deceived him (which does disappoint) or violated his code for us. We know our behavior has separated us from him and Him and forgiveness closes that gap. We can once again commune with joy, albeit with regret.

Confession doesn't get rid of the penalty of our sin. Christ paid the penalty for our sin, all of them, on the cross. We access that gift of a clean slate when we trust in Him, accepting that gift of love and redemption. Again, confession and the forgiveness we feel restores fellowship. Oh, there may well be consequences here that we have set in motion by our sin, but the penalty before God has been paid.

I have encountered students who felt that if they confessed and admitted their sin, they should not have additional consequences. Their misunderstanding is two-fold. First that consequences are the same as punishment for sin - and indeed God took care of the eternal consequence of our sin. BUT, God knows that we learn by temporal consequences.

That pat on the bottom of a two-year-old helps him to remember not to color on the walls. No pat, and he may well not remember that coloring on the walls is unacceptable. I know that is a homely illustration, but you can grow it up as you wish. The teenager who has been smoking secretly for years and is caught smoking can confess all he or she wants, but the possibility of long-term disease consequences exists. The couple who engage in premarital sexual activity may confess and weep over their sin, but that will not erase or eliminate any of the possible consequences - like recurring regret, especially if they break up.

Well, you get the point - there is the beauty of restored fellowship with confession, but the earthly consequences of our choices may continue to haunt us.