“I have swept away your offenses like a cloud,
your sins like the morning mist.
Return to Me for I have redeemed you”
(Isaiah 44:22)
Reflection:
The wonder of the love and the grace and the glory of God is revealed in many small Scripture verses like this one – and can be so easily missed in our reading.
Here He tells us that His forgiveness – and therefore the complete and absolute forgiveness of our sins – is so certain a reality that He can present it to His people prior to their repentance. Indeed He is presenting it as an inducement for us to repent.
The truth is that God has been seeking after us long before we have sought after Him or even thought of doing so. And whereas our sins hang over us and separate us from Him, His love and power are such that they are no more challenging to Him than a cloud or a morning mist. And like the rising sun He is able to quickly and quietly sweep them away. We can imagine Him doing so with a wave of His hand or the breath of His mouth.
God had already provided for –and in reality therefore accomplished – the work of redemption before creation. He can now call all His people – including each one of us – to appropriate that redemption for our own lives, and to keep on doing so as the need arises. We do so initially in our turning to the Lord and accepting His offer of salvation as we commit ourselves to Him. We continue to do so as sin arises and troubles us.
- “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Ephesians 1:7)
- “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9)
Note John’s use of the word ‘will.’ Confession is our agreeing with God that we have sinned and, at the same time, agreeing that our forgiveness and salvation lie only in Jesus Christ and what He has already accomplished on our behalf. True confession is therefore a statement of faith.
The truth is that God loves us – and wants us – and wants therefore to forgive us. The cost to Him was terrible but the reality of its effectiveness is unlimited and unending. So when we fall and fail God’s invitation to us rings out . And where sin has distracted us from Him He calls us back, and keeps calling us, until we never leave again.
“I have swept away your offenses like a cloud,
your sins like the morning mist.
Return to Me for I have redeemed you”
Response:
Humanly speaking it makes no sense. Spiritually it can be the best news in the world
Prayer:
Thank You my Father – thank You so very much – that indeed nothing can now separate me from You. Help me to believe and to keep on believing. Amen
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The Soaring Eagle 