Psalm 32

     Greetings in the name of Jesus.  It is just past the half way mark of deer season and I have yet to get anything.  Although, to be fair it is hard to shoot a deer when you sleep in most mornings.  I hope to go sit more this week and hopefully have some meat for the freezer.  We still have snow on the ground and it is cold.  I truly believe winter is here for good, but that doesn't bother me too much.  Ice is being made by the day now, and smaller lakes are already think enough to go do some fishing. 
     Here is another psalm devotion:

Psalm 32:1-2 “Blessed is the one whose transgression if forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.”
      I don’t know about you, but most days my guilty conscience hears these beautiful words of David’s psalm with doubt and fear. These encouraging and uplifting words make me feel smaller than a grain of salt and more worthless than a speck of dust. Blessed is the man whom the Lord counts no iniquity, boy, wouldn’t that be nice. Wouldn’t that be awesome if I were a man whom the Lord could look at and say, “You have no iniquity to count son.” My heart aches as I think about how amazing it would feel to be that man, to live with that hope and joy. Nevertheless, my guilt-ridden conscience is all too quick to remind me of the very long list of wretched and grievous sins I know I have committed in the las day or two. That list could fill pages of a notebook and as I mentally picture how disturbing those sins would look actually written out in ink, I sink even lower knowing there is no way I could ever be the blessed man spoken of in this psalm.
     Have you ever felt this way? Has the weight of your sin ever caused you to honestly believe your transgression is not forgiven, your sin in not covered, and the Lord is definitely counting ALL of your iniquity against you? I know I have, in fact, I often feel this way. Now you might ask, how can I, a pastor who is supposed to be a living example of a faithful God-fearing man, doubt God’s forgiveness. Well, the answer is because I know my failures. I know my sin, my faults, my iniquity, and my transgressions. I know all too well that they are real! I have never once thought I was any less of a sinner than any one of my members sitting in the pews. To be brutally honest, most days I feel like they should be preaching to me since they clearly have this Christian living figured out more than I do. Here is my confession: I am a sinner. A horrible, wretched, stinking, filthy, miserable, should be damned to hell sinner. And nobody knows it better than me. Therefore, that’s how my sinful nature, along with Satan whispering in my ear, allows my conscience to convict me and beat me down by telling me these words of a blessed man will NEVER be speaking about me. If that was the end of it, I would be left with no hope at all.
     However, God is good, and His Spirit is a beast of a work horse. No matter how down I get, no matter how hard my guilt tries to make sure I can never hear these words as good news, the Spirit wins. He continues to work through the Word, and He is able to shine the light of Jesus into my dark despair. Really, most of the time He makes me feel guilty for feeling guilty. The doctor once literally told me I have the thickest skull he had ever seen. So, I know it takes a lot to beat the truth into my thick-head. I like to picture the scene from Tommy Boy where I am the fat guy standing there smarting off and the Holy Spirit is the skinny guy with the 2x4 in his hand. He has to beat me over the head to knock some sense into me. But when He does, the Gospel floods in and takes over. I quickly admit how foolish I was to think my sin was bigger than Jesus Christ, the Son of God who takes away the sin of the world. See these verses from this psalm don’t say blessed is the man who has no sin. No, they specifically say blessed is the man whose transgression is FORGIVEN!!! Whose sin is COVERED!!!! We are all rotten, miserable, death-deserving sinners. It is the one who is forgiven by Christ, the one whose sins are covered by His blood who are blessed. And just like that I am reminded that is me. I am the very one these words are speaking about. All of the relief, the comfort, the hope that comes with being blessed is mine!
     I am blessed, even though I am a horrible sinner, because by the cross of Jesus Christ my transgression is forgiven! I am blessed, even though I sinned this very day, because the blood of Christ has covered me and all my sin! I am blessed because as the Risen and Living Lord Jesus looks at me, He sees His own name on me and counts no iniquity because He has personally paid for it already. I am blessed by the one and only Savior of the world, not because I deserve it in any way, but only by the grace of Jesus who hears my confession and trades His perfect righteousness for every last one of my wretched sins.
     I don’t know about you, but today the Spirit has cleared my conscience to allow me to hear these beautiful words as hope-filled words of life! These encouraging and uplifting words make me feel like I am sitting beside the King of the World who is smiling down at me with love and pride. Blessed is the man whom the Lord counts no iniquity, boy, isn’t this nice. It is so awesome to be a man whom the Lord does look at and say, “You have no iniquity to count Son.” My heart rejoices as I think about how amazing it is to be a blessed man, to live with this hope and joy only found in the grace and love of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I hope you feel the same way and know you are blessed through Jesus! Amen.