Vicar’s Message – August 2013
Dearly beloved in Christ,
Let us thank God for His Grace and Mercy. This month’s Message is based on Psalm 32 Psalm 32 is the record of David’s experience after he sinned with Bathsheba and then he confessed his sin to the Lord. He feels the heavy hands of God’s Discipline. “For day and night His Hands was heavy up on me, my vitality was turned in to the drought of summer” (v 4). In other words David says your hand was so heavy on me that it was like squeezing a sponge. You have just squeezed all of the energy out of me. It is difficult to have the heavy hand of Gods discipline on us, but it shows us that God loves us. “Because the lord discipline the one he loves and He chastens everyone he accepts as his son” Heb.12:6
He always corrects our faults. Gods discipline is evidence that we are his children. Suffering and persecution should be seen as corrective and instructive training for our spiritual development as Gods Children
Discipline leads to the forgiving hand of God’s mercy. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guide (vv1, 2) While David was silent and would not confess his sin, he felt Gods hand of discipline draining him. But he confessed his sin, that heavy hand was lifted. Then God went to the record book and graciously wiped the record clean. When we confess our sins God cancels the depts. and it is no longer in his books, because our Jesus paid the dept on the cross, and His blood cleanses the record and the heart of the offender.
Confession leads to the protecting hand of God’s grace. You are my hiding place. You shall preserve me from trouble; you shall surround me with songs of deliverance (v.7)
David went from silence to confession to singing. When your soul is clean, you have a song in your heart. After David was forgiven he went to the sanctuary to worship the lord with the other worshipers. When he joined at the assembly at the sanctuary of God, David began his song with the joyful announcement that God had forgiven him. Solomon says He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy (Prov.28:13)
Unconfessed sin is a terrible burden. God loves his children. The hand that disciplines is the same hand that forgives and protects. So let us confess our sins and thank God for His forgiveness and protecting hand of grace.
May God Almighty Bless us all
Sajiachen