A burden lifted

Friends,

Psalm 32:3-5 (NKJV)
When I kept silent, my bones grew old
Through my groaning all the day long.
For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah

I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I have not hidden.
I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,"
And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

Can you relate to those first four lines?
Have you ever felt that way, with the weight of unconfessed sin bearing down on you like a carcass draped across your back?

The burden of iniquity will do that to a person. We keep it to ourselves, thinking that we'll somehow avoid the pain that so appropriately accompanies our transgressions. But instead of avoiding pain, we end up compounding it. Just as a lie entangles us with its web of deceit, the silent sin wraps itself around us until we can scarcely breathe, let alone live the abundant, joyful life that Christ has earned for us.

Now, look at the second half of those verses above, starting with the writer's confession. Do you see the change in tone? Read them aloud, and hear the relief, the joy and the hope in those words. When will we finally realize that the way to shake that dead weight from our shoulders is to run to the cross? The Lord promises that He will forgive us. And when He lifts that burden we can and will feel lighter than air, as if we can leap across the plain like a gazelle. And then the joyful, abundant life will pour down like rain.

Be encouraged,
Jose