If God Kept a Record of Sins….

Daily Devotional – Monday, January 16, 2023
If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?
Psalm 130:3 (NIV)

A renowned international media house sacked one of its senior journalist after critics unearthed offensives tweets the scribe had posted as a teenager. Apparently, the reporter’s detractors had scoured the internet and kept a record of sins he had committed.

Tracking Wrongs

In a similar incident, a national football association fined a footballer for insulting tweets he made in his adolescence. Whether deliberately or inadvertently, someone had brought the posts to the attention of the authorities and the whole world.

I, too, remember attending stakeholder meeting organized by the government to discuss how to deal with criminal records of convicts who had reformed, pardoned and released from jail.

Keeping Account of Guilty Deeds

The consensus was that those records would remain permanently with the police and would be shared with any employer or institution seeking background information on the former prisoner. In essence, the record of sins would forever stand against a forgiven person.

In human circles, people rarely forget the sins of other individuals, even if they have absolved the offender. At the slightest opportunity, someone you had wronged in the past will remind them how indebted you are to them because they absolved you in the past.

Marking Iniquities

How about God? Does He keep a record of our sins to threaten and blackmail us as human beings do? One of the vilest offenders in the Bible (King David) had this to say about God: “If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?” (Psalm 130:3).

To put David’s words in context, imagine an angel opening a book where all you sins are recorded. How many pages would the book have? If you came before God the judge with this record against you, would God find you innocent?

It is of the LORD’s Mercies

Thank God, David answers his own question, saying, “But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.” (Verse 4). If it were not for God’s abundant forgiveness, no human being would be saved.

Today, reflect on God’s unending mercy for you. Remember, “It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is His faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23).

If God Kept a Record of Sins….

If God kept a record of sin even after He has forgives us, we would die eternally. To ensure God blots outs your sins, claim this promise, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9).

Prayer
God, if You kept a record of sins, I would get lost eternally. Thank You because You are a forgiving God.