Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the LORD.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.” Psalm 32:5 NLT
The only way to quit simply coping and truly be released from shame and brokenness is to rely on the God who heals and forgives. David discovered that the path to reliance on God was to embrace the process through which He works. This was not a quick decision. It was a “finally” decision. It was only after his silence and denying and blaming and every other way he had tried to manage his guilt and shame failed to work.
Does that resonate with you at all? It does with me. Confession is hard. Acknowledging my sin, facing it, and accepting my responsibility without minimizing it, manipulating the consequences, or blaming others is humbling. Owning my responsibility for the state of my life and relationships is counterintuitive. It seems like it’s the path to humiliation.
But embracing the process is embracing a wonderful future. Humility leads away from humiliation, not toward it. As 1 John 1:9 records, when we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive us from all of our sins. Everything terrible that sin has brought into our lives can be dealt with by the power of God’s love.
God’s process is for you to OWN it. Take responsibility. You can’t blame your way into a blessed future.
Next, CONFESS it. All of it. The sin itself, the attitude that led to it, and the coverups you tried.
Then, RE-THINK it. When we start dealing with our sinful decisions, they don’t even make sense to us most of the time. God promises to transform our lives by the renewing of our minds, the ways we think. Think truth. When we know the truth, it sets us free, according to Jesus.
And then we RELEASE it. With God’s forgiving power, we are able to let go of our past and our shame, then move into our free and forgiven future. Embracing the process leads to forgiveness and all of its blessings. David found it. We can too.
- Nothing you have ever done is too big or hard for God. He is not ashamed of you. Embrace the process. There are great rewards ahead. Just ask David. He shares great rewards in Psalm 51.