The Best Word in Any Language

As I look back over the forty years I have tried and failed repeatedly to walk with Christ, there is one thing that amazes me more than anything. God is a very merciful and forgiving God.

Psalm 130 has been a great comfort to me over the years. In it the writer is very conscious of how he has failed God and pleads for God’s mercy and forgiveness. What strikes me is the difference between this passage and Genesis chapter three. There Adam and Eve ran and hid from God because of their sin. In Psalm 130, the psalm writer here is running to God when he is aware of his failure before Him.

Genesis three is typical of people. We do not know how to clear a guilty conscience before God so we run. That running could be in the form of blaming someone else, as Adam and Eve did. Or we rationalize, excuse, justify, drink, medicate, and a host of other ways trying to escape.

There are five things to learn about God’s forgiveness in this psalm.
First, God’s forgiveness is inclusive. There are no limits. It is for anyone. Second, the tense is present here: “There IS forgiveness with You.” It is available anytime. Third, it is for those who truly want it. If you don’t truly ask, you don’t truly get. Fourth, God’s forgiveness, when truly grasped, leads to different living. Fifth, thankfully it does not depend on our feelings but on the eternal, unchangeable character of God. So when I have God’s forgiveness, the record of sin is wiped clean. The Christian life is one of failure-forgiveness, failure-forgiveness, mercy after mercy. First John 1:7 assures that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from ALL sin. “Forgiven” is the best word in any language.