The Forgiveness of God

Psalm 130:3-4:  "If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?  But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared."

If there ever were a passage of Scripture that captured the magnitude of God's grace, it would be the 130th chapter of Psalms.  The psalmist first begins his conversation with God by petitioning Him from the depths.  The word used here denotes an abyss that is dark and fearful.  It is a place of dread and seeming hopelessness, for it is here that one who is immersed in the plurality and magnitude of his sins finds himself.   It is here that the person sees the gravity of his treason against the One True Lord of hosts and understands the despair of deserving the full measure of God's wrath for his rebellion.  It too is here that the person reaps the consequences of his sinful behavior and suddenly realizes that the promises of the enticing sins in his life have betrayed him and have turned now into paths of pain and destruction.

It is at this point that the psalmist cries out to the Lord to hear his plea.  The word for Lord here is Adonai, which is a name used to describe the sovereign ruler that God is over all creation.  Thus, this is a calling by one in utter despair, for the supernatural deliverance by the only One who can make it happen . . . the only One who can redeem that person from the miserable plight in which he finds himself.  This is a prayer for the attentive invention of mercy from the very One who should rather pronounce judgment for the waywardness and rebellion of His subjects who were commissioned to tend to and administrate His earthly kingdom (Genesis 1:28).

To further this imagry, one can imagine a kingdom that is ruled by a good and righteous king, whose subjects have determined to assert their own quest to dethrone the king in favor of their own personal reign instead.  And now that the subjects' plots have been foiled, they are brought before the king with nothing but their pleadings for mercy to assuage the justice that is due them.  And this is the verbiage that the psalmist uses, for he begs the Lord to be attentive to his voice and his cry for mercy.

The psalmist then recognizes the gravity of his sin and its due punishment when he says, "If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?"  The Sovereign Creator and King of all things has entered into a covenant relationship with us to give us His blessings if we would be faithful to Him, but the cumulative weight of our rebellion is so great that we can not stand up under its impressive indictments against us.   So now, we must beg for mercy.

But here is where our God is so amazing, because with Him there is forgiveness.  The word here for "forgiveness" is the word "pardons," and its plural form suggests the infinite amount of grace that is afforded to those who would come to the throne of God seeking mercy.  This is love at its finest.  This is goodness at its fullest.  This is grace at its greatest!

And it is for the sheer amazement of God's grace and the sacrifice that it cost Him through His Son's (Jesus Christ) death and resurrection, that we respond with fear, awe, reverence, and obedience.  It is now the redeemed ones that wait for the LORD in anticipation of His leading and calling.  The redeemed ones see themselves as willing servants ready to do their Master's bidding, out of the deepest thanksgiving that can be expressed.  These servants too put all of their hope in the Word of God and eagerly await the Lord like watchmen waiting for the morning.  There is a deep yearning for the radiant presence of the Lord, for these redeemed understand the "unfailing love and full redemption" that is found in Him.

This is a good word for us, for all of us have "sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and (yet) are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:23-24).  May we not treat such forgiveness with contempt.  May we rather fall before a gracious Lord and King of many pardons and seek His infinite grace that is available to us, if we simply would repent of our sins and yield ourselves to His rightful reign over us.  May we not have a proud and defiant heart that resists the Creator's love; for if we "reject such a great salvation, how shall we escape (His judgment)?" (Hebrews 2:3).