~by Pastor Mike Middaugh

Psalm 32
1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the one against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
5 I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

What does it take to forgive?

A word, yes. But more. Forgiveness has a price.

It is a swallowing up of pride, of pain, of vindication. Hard, because it can feel like a setting aside of justice:

“They deserve to be punished.”
“How will they ever learn?”
“Why can’t they just be better?”

Forgiveness says, “This ends here.”

But forgiveness has a price. In swallowing the sin of another, and stopping the cycle of pain, we allow it to rest with us. Forgiveness is knowing that we have been wronged, and yet exacting no repayment.

Hard to do, but it has been done for us. On the cross we see God’s Son. Himself perfect, yet there because of sin. Our wrongs are placed on his shoulders. He is willingly crushed by our sin, that it might be taken, buried, covered over. Forgiveness has a price. God’s Son is the one who pays.

Yet forgiveness has an even greater secret waiting to be released. Joy.

Once the price is paid, the score is settled, joy flows from the exchange.

Joy: in second chances.

Joy: in reconciled relationships.

Joy: in new life granted.

11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!