church on Saturday afternoon. I grabbed the kids, shoved them into their winter coats and boots,
put them in the car and took off to the church. Paul was 5 at the time and Sarah was 2. Once
there, Paul ran to join his class on the platform and I sat down with Sarah in one of the chairs.
I took off her coat and then tried to straighten up her long curly hair. As I combed through
it with my fingers, one side seemed unusually thin. I took a closer look and my eyes nearly
came out of my head...her hair on one side had been cut off to her shoulders, while the other
side cascaded down her back in a mess of curls. I looked up at my son on the platform. He was
standing frozen with a look of sheer terror on his face...yes...Mom had found out! When we
got home, he pulled his sisters cut hair out from under the couch and handed it to me. He felt
the force of his mothers wrath that day. I asked him later why he hid it from me... didn't
he know that I'd find out? He just shrugged his shoulders and couldn't provide me with an
answer.
We are like this. We sin and the first thing we are tempted to do is to cover it up. Why? We
know that our Heavenly Father knows...but we act just like our foolish little children.
Proverbs 28:13 "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth
and forsaketh them shall have mercy."
It is human nature to want to hide when we sin. To pretend it didn't happen and to try and
cover up what we have done. We find this happening from the beginning of time with Adam
and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God had told them they could eat of any tree in the Garden
except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And what did they do...they ate of it.
We find in Genesis Chapter 3:8, "And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking
in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the
presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden." They sinned and right
away they tried to hide from God.
We remember the story of Jonah. He tried to run from God, and for his trouble he became
fish bait and spent 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of a great fish that God had prepared to
swallow him.
Jeremiah 23:23 & 24 "Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar
off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD.
Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.
May I tell you something...you cannot hide from God! Adam and Eve became defensive
when confronted by God, and they ended up turning on each other in an attempt to
vindicate themselves. Sin will do this, not only does it break your fellowship with the Lord,
but it often will ruin relationships. It was useless for Adam and Eve to lie to God, for He
knew what had happened. Psalms 44:21b, "He knoweth the secrets of the heart." He
knew that the fellowship with His children had been broken, and may I say that it broke
His heart. Sin always breaks the heart of God.
Psalms 25:6 - 8 "Remember, O LORD, Thy tender mercies and Thy lovingkindnesses;
for they have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my
transgressions: according to Thy mercy remember Thou me for Thy goodness'
sake, O LORD. Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will He teach sinners
in the way."
No matter how much we sin and how far we try to run and hide, our Heavenly Father
waits for us to turn back. He is always ready to receive, forgive, forget and renew.
1. Receive
Psalms 34:18 "The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and
saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
When we turn to God with a truly humbled and repentant heart, He is right there
ready to receive us! It is a poor example to compare our earthly parenting to our
Heavenly Father's, but when my little boys came crying to me asking my forgiveness,
I wrapped him in my arms and loved him. God is waiting to do the same.
2. Forgive
Psalms 32:1 & 2 "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is
covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and
in whose spirit there is no guile.
I remember when I was a teenager stealing from someone. I denied it, and I found
out later that my dad told them that if I had done it my conscious would not let me
get away with it. Sure enough within a couple of weeks I was at their door crying
and asking forgiveness. What a wonderful peace comes with forgiveness! When
we receive God's forgiveness, the Heavenly peace that floods the soul is indescribable.
God is waiting to forgive, we just have to ask!
3. Forget
Psalms 103:12 "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our
transgressions from us."
Isaiah 43:25 "I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own
sake, and will not remember thy sins."
As humans we have a hard time forgiving ourselves and putting things behind us. When
our sins are covered with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, God see's the
offering of the perfect Lamb, His beloved Son, and not our iniquities! When we ask
forgiveness and our Heavenly Father gives it, His mercy and grace covers our past.
Our sins are forgotten in the "sea of God's forgetfulness."
4. Renew
Psalms 40:2 & 3 "He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry
clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And He hath put
a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear,
and shall trust in the LORD.
How many times do we wish that we could start over and erase our terrible pasts and
mistakes. When we become born again into the family of God, that is exactly what
happens! We have been taken from the horrible pit of this sinful cursed world, and
have been set on the Rock of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a new path and a new
song! We have been renewed to walk in truth and righteousness. There is such a
thing as "a second chance!"
Haggai 1:7 "Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways."
Stop and consider your ways today. Are you trying to hide your sin and pretend that
everything is ok, hoping that God won't notice. Remember, He already knows, and
He is just waiting to receive, forgive, forget and renew!
O now I see the cleansing wave!
The fountain deep and wide;
Jesus, my Lord, mighty to save,
Points to His wounded side.
I rise to walk in Heav'n's own light,
Above the world of sin,
With heart made pure and garments white,
With Christ enthroned within.
Amazing grace! 'Tis Heav'n below,
To feel the blood applied,
And Jesus, only Jesus know,
My Jesus crucified.
The cleansing stream I see, I see;
I plunge, and O it cleanseth me!
O praise the Lord, it cleanseth me!
It cleanseth me, yes, cleanseth me!
Phoebe P. Knapp
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