Dec 4

Psalms 32:1-5
1 Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!
2 Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!
3 When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long.
4 Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.Interlude5Finally, 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. Interlude

John Bunyan's famous book, Pilgrim's Progress, is the story of a young man named Christian, who carries a heavy burden on his back everywhere he goes. Everyone Christian meets seems to have an opinion as to how he can get rid of his burden. "Forget it," says one. "Ignore it," says another. "Overcome it by doing good," says another. But nothing seems to relieve Christian of his burden until he arrives at a highway fenced on either side by a wall. Christian runs along that road, "but not without great difficulty," Bunyan writes, "because of the load on his back." He ran thus till he came at a place somewhat ascending; and upon that place stood a cross, and a little below, in the bottom, a sepulchre. So I saw in my dream, that just as Christian came up with the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, and fell from off his back, and began to tumble, and so continued to do, till it came to the mouth of the sepulchre, where it fell in, and I saw it no more.... Then was Christian glad and lightsome, and said with a merry heart, "He hath given me rest by His sorrow, and Life by His Death." Then he stood still awhile to look and wonder; for it was very surprising to him, that the sight of the Cross should thus ease him of his burden. He looked therefore, and looked again, even till the springs that were in his head sent the waters down his cheeks. . . . John Bunyan's words are old-fashioned, but Christian's experiences still happen to people. Nothing matches what a person feels when God forgives him or her of sin, rolls that burden of sin and guilt away, and brings his salvation to a human heart. If you've never asked God to forgive your sin and make you a new person, if you've never repented of your wrongdoing and determined to follow Jesus for the rest of your life-do it now, and you'll know exactly what the psalmist sang about and what John Bunyan wrote about. If you have experienced the forgiveness of your sins, remember that path you took to joy: It involved admitting that you had sinned, asking for God's forgiveness, and accepting that forgiveness. It's the same process you should follow whenever you make a wrong choice, even as a Christian: Admit the wrongness of your choice, ask for forgiveness, and accept God's forgiveness on the basis of his love and Jesus' sacrifice for your sins.

REFLECT: In Pilgrim's Progress, what did Christian's burden represent? What did the cross and the sepulchre (tomb) stand for? Has God cleared your record of sin? If not, why not? Is there any sin you need to confess and seek forgiveness for right now?

PRAY: Reread Psalm 32:1-5 out loud, changing the words, if necessary, to make it your own personal prayer to God.

This verse really makes us think upon the idea of how we see the cross;

Sure, we could see the cross as Christ's suffering, but it's really more within His interests for us to see it as our salvation through Him. Maybe this causes us to start thinking "since Christ suffered for my sins, I shouldn't ever be in a situation where I suffer." I think that's totally wrong and it's really shown in the reflection below. Christ's suffering should be something that makes us really proud to be Christian, and should be something that encourages us to not be selfish to stop us from giving ourselves to other people.

sinning sort of cant be helped because we are humans. humans were pretty much destined to sin the moment Adam and Eve took the bite of the forbidden fruit. humans sin so much on a daily basis that Jesus had to die on the cross for us to redeem ourselves (although he did resurrect in 3 days). this ties in with the previous devotion. sinning is so easy to do as human beings and sinning is mostly through wanting to get the easier way out of something but getting the harder end of the stick later on. God knows everything and the more and more we sin, the more and more he gets hurt from watching us fall from his hands. asking for forgiveness and trying to not sin is the only way to make our hearts clear and pure from all the impurities that blocked it all up from sinning.

The first thing when I became Christian is ask why we needed to ask for forgiveness, if we're always eternally saved. Sometimes the answer is still blurry, but I've concluded that, what use are good deeds when they're not recognized, when you're not thankful for something. When we don't see God's glory, we can't appreciate the things he's done for us. The Christian burden represents pain and suffering. We've told God that we are VOLUNTEERING to be his servants. Just like Jesus accepted himself as the ultimate sacrifice to mankind. Not scared to experience what Jesus felt, we, as Christians, live a life of humbleness. Always prioritizing God, always living our lives only for God.

Today wasn't the greatest....the teacher union thing affected our school, so now we have no more choirs, bands, etc. Worst part of all? They cancelled our winter concert and play

Anyway,
1 "Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!"
Forgiveness is key, in your relationship with God. If you keep cowering away from what you did wrong, and never ask for redemption, then you'll just grow further and further away from God. Sometimes, you'll want to avoid your sins, and you tell yourself things like "It was just one small sin, God isn't going to mind.", but no sin is to small. Apologize to the Lord for every wrong doing, and with no regret or second thought, God wil forgive you.

1 Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!

Hm this stuck out to me.
We all disobey at one point. Whether it's our parents, a leader, God most commonly, we do it. We're human
I guess it's how we take that approach from whence we've been disobeyed that truly reflects our character and values.
It's joyful to forgive.
It's joyful to put sin aside and forget about it.

Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.Interlude5Finally, 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. Interlude
this verse stood out to me because it shows tha we are forgiven when we ask. It is always better to admit your weakness and ur mistakes rather than hide them and try to wait it out because the moer u wait the worse the situation gets. and as well, God knows everything, which means that HE KNOWS U LIE! so no point in trying to trick the Lord.

all i gote gnite

?
We all sin.. and we all have burdens... we never hold a record of sin unless we continue to do them without acknowledging the fact that we do it. Repent for your sins and other problems you may be giving God because he will forgive you. It may be hard but we need to be strong in faith and know that God is constantly purifying us everyday of our lives and we must continue to love and hold onto him. We all sin... and there is never a time when we are free from sin... so there should never be a time when we are free from repenting.