“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” (Psalm 32:1)
We hate being “caught.” Shame sends us into hiding. Being “found out” and facing the embarrassing repercussions for our misdeeds is too much for our dignity to bear. But the cover-up is often worse than the crime. Adultery with Bathsheba was bad. The murder of Uriah was worse.
Shame causes men to do horrible things. Amnon hated Tamar far more than he “loved” her. (2 Sam. 13:15) Why? Because she knew his shameful behavior.
We are on dangerous ground when we’ve done what afterwards destroys our dignity. Judas could not kill the witnesses to his dastardly deed, so he killed himself. What should he have done? Humbly own up to his crime and accept the consequences for it.
The marvelous thing is that God is more interested in bringing us to mercy than to justice. Christ bore our sins in His own body, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. Before the bar of God’s justice, He took upon Himself the consequences we deserve. The Innocent died in the place of the guilty, that we might be declared righteous by grace. And now, “accepted in the Beloved,” we have an opportunity to be changed. Who makes us any different than another? Only God in Christ. By grace are we saved. By grace are we transformed.
Blessed are those who have been caught by grace. No more fear of exposure. They can freely acknowledge their sins against God and man. No one needs to die for their crimes because One already has spilled His precious blood for them. “Sin stains are lost in its life-giving flow.”
He who was delivered for our offences, was raised again for our justification. (Rom. 4:25) In Christ, we are new creatures, who have been clothed with a far greater dignity than any we lost. To God be the glory!