Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
Psalm 32:1–2, ESV
Guilt is a rotten emotion. It eats away at you and causes you to flee and hide from that which is the source. I remember that as a young child, I broke my grandmother’s porcelain doll while playing with my cousin. We both were guilty, but I didn’t want to face the punishment that I knew I deserved. I ran outside, and my cousin hid. My grandmother found my cousin, and when he told her I had run away, she went looking for me, and I watched her pass by in her vehicle and return to the house. It was hot, and I really had no place to go, so I returned to my grandmother’s house expecting a great punishment. What I received was forgiveness. God’s forgiveness is greater, and He does not desire to punish. When we humble ourselves and do not try to hide our guilt, God offers us freedom from the bondage of the sin that tries to encapsulate us and instead brings us closer to Himself. The embrace of God heals all past hurts and shame. It is when we are prideful and act as though our wrong is not ours that the burden remains. God does not keep track of our sins. Once forgiveness is given, they are erased. Sadly, they like to keep a presence in our memories as we believe that there must be more that is required, but God does not operate as the world does, and His forgiveness is complete and fulfilled on the Cross. When we acknowledge our wrongdoings and turn away from them, we find that all is made new, and we are restored fully by God in the great love that was given to us all in His Son, Jesus Christ. God does not want us to live in a fractured relationship with Him, but wholly as His sons and daughters who have been washed in the waters of Baptism and adopted fully into His family, the Church.
Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.