336. Friday after Eleventh Sunday after Trinity.
Psalm 32, 1-5. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old, through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into drought of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
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“When I kept silence, my bones waxed old”; that is, when I would not confess my sin, I was without peace and happiness. This was the situation of David from the time of his fall until Nathan came to him. I wonder, if it be not the case with many among us. At times they more or less distinctly feel in their conscience the wrath of God; but they are too proud, too thoughtless, too worldly-minded, to humble themselves and seek mercy; and thus they gradually come to feel more and more secure. — “I acknowledged my transgressions; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.” Forgiveness follows confession; you no sooner lay your sins before God, and pray for mercy, than he forgives you. He answers before you have found time to finish speaking. While you are still trying to say: “God be merciful to me a sinner,” he makes reply: “I have put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.” For who other than God himself has produced in your soul the confession of sin? Shall he, then, deny the prayer himself has inspired? Shall that stream of mercy which from God’s heaven is poured out upon all humanity, in order that it may open and refresh the hearts, fail in the case of the very persons who thirst after it? Away with the lies of Satan! Away with the fancied security which denies, or defends, or excuses sin, and causes a man to say: “I am no better; I cannot help it; I am no worse than God made me; I am, at any rate, better than many others.” Away also with the denial of God’s mercy, in which the heart says: “I dare not as yet believe that my sin is forgiven; I cannot believe it; I do not as yet feel it, and I will not deceive myself with a dead faith.” Beware of the devil’s cunning; that you do not on account of your own feelings charge God with being a deceiver, and with saying that which he does not mean, and with making promises which he does not keep! It always is entirely safe to trust in the word of the Lord. Dear timid soul, make honest confession of your sin; tell the Lord what you are and what you have done, how you feel and what you want; speak out before him, and plead for mercy; but do not be afraid that you may forget to say everything that you should; the prayer of the publican was not a long one. When you thus pray, you may feel assured that your sin is forgiven you. At the moment when you confess your sin Jesus possesses you of his own merit, and you are a blessed child of God.
Help us all, merciful God, to confess our transgressions and receive forgiveness for the iniquity of our sin. Our guilt is and always will be too heavy for us to carry. Let thy Spirit enlighten us, that we may repent, and believe, and be saved in our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.*
Eternal Spirit, by whose breath
The soul is raised from sin and death,
Before thy throne we sinners bend;
To us thy quickening power extend.
Jehovah! Father, Spirit, Son!
Mysterious Godhead! Three in One!
Before thy throne we sinners bend;
Grace, pardon, life, to us extend!
* Here the head of the family says a short morning or evening prayer in his own words, and closes with the Lord’s Prayer and the Benediction. This is to be done every day. If the stanzas are not sung, they may be read in their proper place before the impromptu petition and the Lord’s Prayer.