As Far As That

When you carry a sin long enough, it starts to feel attached to you, stitched into who you are, following you from room to room. You can go weeks clean and still feel it standing just behind your shoulder, ready to be counted against you the moment you slip again. David knew that weight, and he answered it with a measurement. He writes that the Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love, and that as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

Notice the direction he chose. North and south have poles, a fixed distance you could eventually measure. East and west never meet. Travel east as long as you like and you never arrive at west. David reached for the one span that has no end because that is how completely God has carried your sin away from where you stand.

So the thing you feel breathing on your neck is not actually there. God does not keep it in reach so he can produce it later. He removed it to a distance you could never walk back across even if you tried.

Father, I have been living as if my sin were still fastened to me. Thank you that you have carried it farther than I can imagine. Help me stop reaching for what you have already taken away.