4 Show me your ways, Lord,
teach me your paths.
5 Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.
6 Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love,
for they are from of old.
7 Do not remember the sins of my youth
and my rebellious ways;
according to your love remember me,
for you, Lord, are good.
8 Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
9 He guides the humble in what is right
and teaches them his way.
10 All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful
toward those who keep the demands of his covenant.
Psalm 25:4-10 (NIV)
According to your love remember me, Psalm 25:7 (NIV).
Remember me in the light of your unfailing love, Psalm 25:7 (NLT).
According to your mercy remember me, Psalm 25:7 (NKJV).
According to your steadfast love remember me, Psalm 25:7 (ESV).
Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways.
There is just something about these words of David that I can relate to. The words are few but the meaning is thick. The muck, the mire, the drudgery, of my sins and my rebellion. The things I do, which I do not want to do, but still find myself entangled in.
Why is it that I can spend time in the Word, in fellowship, in prayer, and then get up and do selfish, stupid, sinful things?
Oh, I am my own greatest frustration most days, when nothing depletes my soul more than my own sins. What I do. What I think. What I say. How I act. What I avoid. Mix in with my sins my sorrows & disappointments, and there becomes a hideous recipe for self-centeredness.
Sometimes all of my failings, faults, messes, and mistakes come crushing down upon my mind and my heart. I believe in those moments that is how others see me too, remembering me only by the worst of me. My biggest mistakes and poorest choices taking precedence in their views and actions towards me.
All of which make me wholly unworthy, not good enough in any area of my life. Not physically, or mentally, or emotionally, or financially, or spiritually, or relationally. Not good enough as a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a co-worker, a client, even a passerby.
While my fleshly ego is tempted to twist things by asking if I could really be that bad, the truth is, my sewer of sin is deep and full of disgusting things. Things spoken in anger, in frustration that caused hurt. Selfish choices where I didn’t take into account the heart of others. Choosing what felt good in the moment instead of what was best in the long run.
It is as if I can not apologize enough. I could say, “I am sorry” for everything I could think of and still come up with more to apologize for tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that. Still finding ways in all of those days to sin, giving me more to atone for.
In the end, I am and will never be enough. Never can I free myself from the siege of my own sins and wrong doings. Never can I make myself worthy, regardless of how I try.
More than any sacrifice I can make, I need a Savior. As Savior whose love is blameless, perfect, and pure. Love, steadfast, unfailing, merciful. Love does not define us and remember us by our greatest faults. “All of the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful.” Psalm 25:10 (NIV)
The comprehensive forgiveness of the Lord, takes it all, the worst of the worst, a multitude of sins, and offers victorious grace by way of Jesus Christ. The heart of the Lord is so endeared towards His creation, to each person, and every thing He brought into being through the unfathomable love that is the core of who the Lord is.
At the worst of times, the worst of our selfish actions, or the greatest attack of worldly circumstances upon us, the Lord remembers us in the purity of His love. God doesn’t stop there. He wants us to see, to hear, to feel, to taste, to even smell the sweet aroma of his love.
“Praise be to the Lord, for he showed me the wonders of his love when I was in a city under siege.” Psalm 31:21 (NIV)
How does one who is so unworthy respond to love that is so welcoming?
“Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.” Psalm 103:1 (NIV)
Praise. Rejoice. Give thanks. Fall in humbleness before the Holy One. Share with others what has been done for us.
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Psalm 103:8-12 (NIV)
Live it Out
Today I hope you know in your mind and your heart that there is a loving God. The Lord’s love is so pure, so holy, so righteous, so merciful, so forgiving, so saturated with grace, that it remembers and welcomes you in love.
Whatever you have done. Where ever you are. No matter how great the pain, how deep the anguish, how crushing the circumstances. Love is there for you, in all of the robust fullness of the Lord who placed each star in the skies, and the intimacy of sacrifice that would be born into the mess of a manager and walk the painful path of the cross.
The Savoir who made a way, the Holy Spirit who dwells within, and the good, good Father who sees everything have the power to remember us in love.
Love that whispers in the still small voice, you are a beautiful treasure. You are a precious gift. All because you are mine. I delight in you. I cherish you. I am with you always, though all of it. Through every mess. Through the darkest circumstances. Through the most uncertain and impossible times.
Love that always knows the number of hairs on your head, the depths of the dreams in your heart, and the magnitude of the fears in your mind. Love that feels the dull aches and stabbing pains. Love that cries with the mourning of deepest loss, and rejoices jubilantly in the moments of victory.
Love that was so miraculously wondrous that you were made in the image of the Lord. The reflection of His goodness is found in you and all those around you. Every person we meet is made in the Lord’s image. If you haven’t seen that image yet, of goodness and love, ask for the revelation to see with new eyes.
Pray Through It
Amazing and Incredible Lord, thank You so much for the pure, rich, robust love that You have for us. May we have awe and wonder over a love so great that would cherish us in spite of the enormity of our sin, our pain, and our brokenness. A love that can reach through the worst of circumstances to hold us.
Lord, we fall into pits filled with regret, remorse, doubt, fear, and wild speculation. Help us to be lifted up by the strength of the Spirit on the ladder of Your scriptures out of what is false, what is deceitful, what was in the past, so that we may find new life in the light of Your love.
What you call us to walk through, may we not run to avoid, but may we resiliently hold fast to Your promises and rely on Your enduring strength to take each day one moment at a time.
Lord, today, in the moments please help us to see Your love, to feel Your love, to hear Your love, to taste Your love, and to breathe in the sweet aroma of Your love. May it fill us with a joy that pours out in great thanksgiving and worship and honor and glory to Your holy love.
In the name, strength, and power of Jesus, our Savior, who remembers us in love, amen.
PEP UP for Joy 