Time of Preparation
Begin by taking inventory of your surroundings. Are things in your vicinity conducive to a time of personal worship? Are there any changes or adjustments (turning off tech, making yourself comfortable) you need to make before you begin?
When you are ready, take some time to sit in silence and prepare your heart for worship. Ask God to clear away any distractions that might keep you from being truly present in this moment.
Assurance
In this third movement, we receive the good news of the gospel: we are forgiven.
“No longer shall they teach one another or say to each other, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.”
—Jeremiah 31:34 (NRSV)
It is one of the hardest truths for us to grasp: that when God forgives our sins, he no longer remembers them. Our minds struggle to wrap around that thought. After all, God is omniscient, so it makes no sense that there is something we wouldn’t know or remember, right?
Unless…he chooses to forget. That’s within his power, and aligns with our understanding of his grace and love. If he removes our sins “as far as the east is from the west,” that is an unmeasurable distance. Our sins are not simply taken far away, they are gone from us to an infinite degree, even as far as God choosing to no longer remember them.
Sit with this truth awhile as you ponder these lyrics from a popular Taizé worship song:
The Lord is gracious full of compassion
Slow to anger and of great kindness
SONG OF ASSURANCE: The Lord is Gracious