Emmanuel Baptist Rochester

Meditating upon Psalm 68 this morning, I am overrun with the thought that the passages portraying the wicked and unregenerate characterize me better than those which speak of the righteous. How can this be?! Have I so neglected the practice and presence of God, that I tremble at my God's tremendous strength more out of fear than awe? Praise God that forgiveness is found in Him, that His mercies are ever new; nevertheless, who am I to so besmirch His name and trample underfoot His blood that I presume to continue in my sin without so much as a furtive glance towards the grand sacrifice that has made me His own?

I remember reading, and have been reminded yet again, that, when one finds themselves in the midst of sin, they are best advised to think upon the cross, and the bloodied, mangled body of He who is there for my sake. Sadly, it seems that, too often, I am already so smitten with my trespass that I can think of nothing else. Sin is that way, isn't it? It entangles, and ensnares. It is no wonder that even desire alone gives birth to sin, and sin, ironically enough, gives life to death. Saddening.

I am convinced that the less focus I lend towards my circumstances, and my presumed "rights," and the more onus I put on the wholly undeserved right I have now as a child of God, and a coheir with Christ, I will, less and less, find myself in the throes of sin. I perceive that the more desirous He is to me, and the more satiated I am with His presence, the less I will desire deathly, wicked things. I know that it's no grand revelation, but in my fallenness, I need constant reminder.

Thank you, Father, for the reminder. Through your Word, through your pricking. May the Spirit ever have His way with my conscience, and may I never grow so calloused and hard to His wooing that I shoo Him away for good. "Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me." (Psalm 51:11)