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.
“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
—Hebrews 8:12 (NIV)
One part of grace I have always struggled to understand is the idea of God no longer remembering sin. It’s reflected in this verse from Hebrews, which quotes Jeremiah, and it also appears in Isaiah. In Isaiah it’s declared that our sin is “blotted out,” while Micah describes God “treading our iniquities underfoot.” I wrestled with this concept for many years. If I, who am mortal, remain aware of my sin, how could the Eternal God forget it? It made no sense.
Interestingly enough, it was a song that brought this idea into clarity for me—”Don’t You Remember?” by Wayne Watson*. It imagines a conversation between a person and God about how their sin has been dealt with:
How does it work that omniscient God
Can wipe the slate so clean?
That if you looked for a single spot
A single spot could not be seen?
Oh, still I've got page after page after pitiful page
Locked in my memory
Then I heard Him when He said to me:“Don't you remember I promised to forgive you,
Gone as far as east from the west?"
And don't you remember I promised to be faithful
To wash away the sin you confess?
You know I'd really like to help you out
But I don't even know what you're talking about
It's not so much that I don't remember
But it's more that I choose to forget.”
Something clicked in me when I heard that song—that God chooses to forget, rather than fails to remember. That’s an important distinction, and more than that, it reveals the depth of his love for us. When we are clothed with the righteousness of Jesus, that’s what God sees. That’s what God remembers. That’s what makes it possible for him to see us as if we never sinned.
Truly remarkable, isn’t it? Spend some time reflecting on this unbelievably true word—he remembers our sins no more. We come to the cross in ashes, but there we receive the beauty of grace.
*after the devotional song you’ll find a link to the Wayne Watson song
SONG OF ASSURANCE: At the Foot of the Cross (lyrics here)
BONUS SONG OF ASSURANCE: Don’t You Remember? (lyrics here)