Psalm 130:3-4
The story of John Wesley’s conversion is well known. One day in 1738, he reluctantly attended a Christian meeting in Aldersgate Street, London. He was feeling thoroughly depressed but, during the meeting, someone read from Martin Luther’s Preface to the Letter of St Paul to the Romans and during this time, Wesley felt that his heart was “strangely warmed”. He saw this as the moment when he truly trusted in Christ alone. What is less well known is that later that same day, Wesley went to St Paul’s Cathedral where he was deeply moved by this particular psalm. It perfectly expressed his experience of salvation through the forgiveness of his sins.
The psalmist speaks of the completeness of God’s forgiveness; he doesn’t keep a record of our sins, they are wiped out. We hear the same truth in Isaiah 43:25: “I – yes, I alone, will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.” When someone has done you wrong, the hardest thing in the world is to forget what has happened. But that’s what God does. He chooses to erase our sins completely from his memory.
The psalmist knew that his life was totally distorted and spoilt by sin. He couldn’t think of standing in God’s presence. But now the door was open to a new life in which he could confidently stand before God and serve him. This message of forgiveness comes into sharpest focus in the New Testament; it was precisely for this reason that Jesus needed to come and die upon the cross. Only through Jesus taking the full weight of our sin upon himself could he offer us a new life.
QUESTION
How do you respond to the fact that God is willing to forgive and forget all your sins?
PRAYER
Loving God, I recognise that I have often failed you. I ask for your forgiveness and for the power of your Holy Spirit to live a new life with you. Amen
