Confession and Forgiveness

For today’s task, we were challenged to look at God’s Holiness with this as our guiding verse…..

Isaiah 6:1-5

Isaiah’s Commission

 ¹ In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³ And they were calling to one another:

   “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
   the whole earth is full of his glory.”

 ⁴ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

 ⁵ “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”

Now if you’re like me, these words crushed me.  If someone like Isaiah felt unclean before God, how could I ever measure up to anything with my layers and layers of sins from the last 20 years?   The point of this task however, was not to condemn the sinner’s spirit as “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

 Instead, today provided me a chance to look at my life, recognize my sinfulness and confess these sins to Him.  Since being in New Zealand this last semester, I have worked to etch the words of Psalm 139:23-24 on my heart and make that my cry to the Lord.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting”

As I prayed this throughout the day, my faithful Father did just that; He searched my heart and revealed what seemed to be pages and pages of offensive ways in me.  As this task suggested, I wrote down these instances and feelings that I needed forgiveness for and one by one, I prayed through the short list.

 The coolest part of this task however, was after confessing the sins on these pieces of paper, and asking for forgiveness, I could throw them away.  Poof! They are gone.  God forgave me and I could feel the weight being lifted off my heart.  I no longer have to carry these sins around with me, weighing me down and dragging me through the dirt that makes me feel worthless and filthy.

Confession and forgiveness are necessary for my faith walk because without them, I feel so distant from God; I feel like Isaiah.  I am unworthy and He is Holy.  His Holiness has set Him apart from me but His grace has bridged the gap so I can be with Him.  In order to grow closer with God and have the deep, all-consuming relationship that I yearn to have, I have to see myself the way God sees me, not as the filth that I feel like when I fail to do what He wants me to do for my life.

On that note, I think it is important to hear the wonderful news from verses 6-8

 ⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
 ⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
   And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”


See!!!! So exciting! He forgives! And now I want to be sent out for Him. <3