THE WORD 4 ev 1

Psalm 51:1-2 - Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your unfailing love, according to Your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

Before moving on from the recent devotions about our sin, “worse” sinners, “better” sinners, and all that …

One of God’s most famous apostles, Paul, called himself the “the worst” of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15b). I guess that would technically make him the best (i.e. worst) sinner ever. Paul wasn’t joking either; he knew his sins had even brought death to others, much like we learned about King David yesterday.

How deep is our sin? It goes to the core, all the way back to our conception and birth according to Psalm 51.

The verse above talks about “transgressions,” “iniquity,” and “sin.” You’d think
one word would be enough, but it’s not. It doesn’t cover it all. To transgress means to “step beyond” the boundaries. In King David’s case, it could be said he did that when he committed adultery or when he gave the order to station the husband of the woman he was having an affair with on the front lines, thereby increasing his chances of being hurt or killed.

But before David actually did anything, he had those sinful thoughts in his heart. Iniquity refers to this sinful state, which is our very nature. The word sin refers to missing the mark—as when we’re trying to do our level best and still fall ridiculously short.

Anyway you look at it—our very nature, our trying our best but falling short, and our
outright decision to hurt someone else—are all sin. But there are even more words God uses when describing how He covers our sins: mercy, unfailing love, great compassion, blot out, wash away, cleanse, create, restore, sustain,and more.

THE PRAYER: Father, have mercy on me, according to Your unfailing love, according to
Your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Amen.