His Forgiveness

Did you ever do something that, at the time you thought was a good idea, but after you really sat down and thought about what you did, you felt totally and completely the opposite of good about the decision you made?

I'm pretty sure that I can safely assume that every single person who reads this will answer with a resounding, "YES!!"

It truly amazes me how immediate gratification seems to cloud our better judgement so often: it's as if common sense takes a first class flight right out the window when we're faced with something that will provide us with temporary feelings of satisfaction.

In the Garden of Gethsemene, in His final hour, Jesus said to His disciples,

"watch and pray so that you will not fall into tempation. The spirit
is willing, but the body is weak" (Matthew 26:41).

The body is weak indeed! We as Christians, even in our daily efforts of striving to be more Christ-like, stumble.

"We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault for what he says, he is a perfect man" (James 3:2).

We fall into traps set up by the enemy in our daily lives.

"Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around
like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour."

Spiritual warfare is all around us, and we have to stand strong and be ready for every temptation that we might face.

The beautiful part about all of this though, is that even if we do stumble, God is there to catch us and help us back up to our feet so we don't fall:

"If the Lord delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm; though he
stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with His hand" (Psalm
37:23,24).

This tells me, that if I'm delighting in the Lord and I am otherwise staying within His will, He will lift me up if I stumble! There is serious comfort in that, isn't there? This doesn't mean that we can deliberately sin or go against God, but if we do for some reason trip over our own two feet, which will undoubtedly happen over and over again in this life, He will be there to lift us up!

I also take comfort in the fact that the Lord uses our mistakes as a tool to teach us lessons, as well as others:

"...Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help
those who are being tempted" (Hebrews 2:18).

I love that our God uses even the things that we are ashamed of to lift us up and bring us into a greater place of understanding, and a closer relationship with Him. Did you ever notice that when you do something that you know was displeasing to God, that you find yourself in a place of mourning if your heart is truly in the right place? We tend to engage in serious prayer and supplication over our wrong-doings which is exactly where our hearts should be if we have sinned against the Lord: and it is in these times that the Lord takes us in our humble state and refines us:

Purify my heart
Let me be as gold
and precious silver
Purify my heart
Let me be as gold
Pure gold

Refiner's fire
My heart's one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for you Lord
I choose to be Holy
Set apart for you my master
Ready to do your will

Purify my heart
Cleanse me from within
and make me holy
Purify my heart
Cleanse me from my sin
Deep within.

Praise God that even in my sinful times, He loves me enough to hold me near to him like a small child, wiping away my tears, teaching me right from wrong, washing all of my fears away.

God IS good!