"These are a few of my favorite. . . sins"

Wow! Can you believe it? This is my 100th post. The time is flying by. Today we begin Deuteronomy and later in the week we'll begin Romans, though for my reflection this morning I'm going with Psalm 32.

I'm so glad you've made it this far in the Year of the Bible!


Here's the question and answer from yesterday:
Sat, March 14: How many towns in all, should be given to the Levites? (Num 35)
Numbers 35:7 7 In all you must give the Levites forty-eight towns, together with their pasturelands.

And here's the question of the day:
Sun, March 15: God tells Moses that he will not enter the Promised Land, but his assistant will. Who is his assistant? (Deut 1)


And here's the reflection of the day:
So this morning I have a song running through my head, as always. And it's the song, "These are a few of my favorite things. . ." from the "Sound of Music." But instead of "favorites things," I would substitute the word "sins" ("These are a few of my favorite sins. . .").

We all have a favorite sin: some little sin that we think we cannot help but succomb to it. It's probably a sin we're particularly good at. . . you might even say it's a sin at which we even accel. When we sin, we sin boldly when it comes to our favorite sin.

But it is also probably a sin which grieves us greatly every time we commit it. It's a sin we really, really, really wish we could conquer, but it seems to be the vulnerable spot in our otherwise sturdy "armor of God" (see Eph 6:13-18).

Each Sunday at Frankfort Church, we share in a corporate confession of sin. It's one of the very first things we do in our worship service. Part of the reason we do this is parallels the theme we heard about in Leviticus: "Be holy, because I the Lord your God am holy." Just as the Israelites made their sin offerings before entering the tabernacle, so too we should confess our sin and receive God's mercy and forgiveness. You can't be close to God without confessing your sin.

That's what Psalm 32 is talking about. The author of the psalm talks about how distant he feels from God because he kept "silent"--meaning he hadn't confessed his sin to ask for forgiveness. And that's what it feels like to allow unconfessed sin to separate us from God. The psalmist says day and night God's hand was heavy upon him and he was without strength. You see, you can't be close to God without confessing your sin, ALL of it, even your favorite sin.

God is our hiding place; he will protect us from trouble and surround us with songs of deliverance, if only we will confess our sin. God's love for us is unfailing. So rejoice in the Lord! Be glad!

Enjoy a little musical flash back with Maria and the Von Trapp kids!




Have a great Sabbath day!
Allison