If He Kept a Record

The psalmist asks a question with the honesty of a man who has done the math on his own life. If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? He is not being dramatic. He is being accurate. If God kept a running ledger of every failure and held each one against us, not one person alive could remain on his feet before him. The playing field of guilt is level, and every man is on the losing side of it.

But he does not stop there, and the next line is where the whole thing turns. But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. Forgiveness is the reason God does not keep that record. And notice what forgiveness produces, according to the psalmist. It leads to fear, meaning reverence, a healthy awe. You might expect that being let off the hook would make a man careless, but the opposite happens. The mercy that spares him is what draws his heart back toward God in worship.

For you, this means the record you dread God keeping, he does not keep. He forgives instead, and that forgiveness is meant to pull you closer to him rather than drive you off in shame.

Lord, if you marked every failure I could not stand for a moment. Thank you that with you there is forgiveness. Let that mercy turn my heart back toward you in awe.