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If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you… Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption (Psalm 130:3,4,7).

When we think of God’s accounting ability, we ought to cringe. Suppose every unkind word we had ever spoken, every lie we had ever told, every shortcut we had ever taken, every word of gossip that ever passed our lips, every lustful thought we had entertained, every sin we ever committed were recorded on God’s cell phone. What if God sent us the file and made us watch it? How would we react?

For many of us our first reaction would be to deny it all. Admitting guilt is rarely our first go too. It tends to be the avenue of last resort to keep out of trouble. When denial doesn’t work, we move to rationalization. We blame the circumstances of life, other people, even our genes. “It’s in my nature,” we complain, “I just can’t help it.” And if that doesn’t work, we compare ourselves to others. We tell God that everyone else is doing it, so why can’t I! Or we mention casually that our sins are not nearly as grievous as our neighbour down the road.

It's a good thing that God is patient. He listens to all our excuses one by one. But in the end, we must discover that none of them are truly valid. If God was to lay out ours sins before us, we must echo this psalmist, “Who could stand?”

Despite our best efforts to be good, we are constantly engaged in a wrestling match between the old sin nature and the new person in Christ. Even the Apostle Paul complained, “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing” (Romans 7:18-19).

There is a way out, however. It’s a one-word answer: forgiveness. In His infinite mercy, God chooses to pardon the penitent sinner (Isaiah 55:6-7). We are saved by grace. The Old Testament poets and prophets already knew this. How much more, should we, who know Jesus Christ, know the infinite mercy of our God? If He was not merciful, we would all be destroyed by His judgement. Because we have been forgiven much, we are able to respond in grateful praise. We are moved to revere and respect Him, to worship and adore Him, to follow and obey Him!

If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you, says our text for today.

God’s mercy includes more than just forgiveness. In His mercy, He also promises full redemption. We ought never to reduce God’s redemption to anything smaller than the full restoration of the cosmos to its intended glory. In fact, the book of Revelation suggests when God’s full redemption has come, it will be more glorious than the original creation.

If our psalmist was waiting eagerly for that day, how much more shouldn’t we? In our waiting, we cry out to God to hasten that day. But we also wait patiently because we know His sovereign hand will not be forced by human entreaties unless the time is right. He hears our prayers and then acts according to His own perfect timing.

In ancient times, watchmen were posted atop the broad gates of Jerusalem to sound the alarm if signs of imminent danger were observed. If the watchmen could make it until the first rays of the rising sun, they could rejoice in their security for yet another night.

Waiting in darkness merely emphasized the glory of the sunrise! As we wait in the darkness of uncertainty and human inadequacy and our own inclination towards sinfulness, we rest in the faith that His sunrise is surely coming! It will be glorious.