Psalm 32:3-5 “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the LORD – and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” NIV

This summer my brother and I had two roofs to re-shingle. Before we could start however the old rolled roofing needed to be removed. Why: Because the weight of the old roofing plus the weight of the new roofing could prove to be too heavy and cause the roof to collapse, especially during the winter months with the increased weight of snowfall.

As we were up there, with the shovel, working hard to remove the old roofs I was reminded of the weight of the guilt of sin and the devastating effects it can have upon a person. Guilt has the ability to haunt us. It keeps us awake at night, makes us fearful and saps our strength in general as we beat ourselves up over our actions. We wish we hadn’t done what we did. We worry that others might find out and then what will happen? We wonder what kind of a person acts the way we did. Yes, the weight of the guilt of our sin is indeed a heavy burden to bear.

And yet, it is a weight that can be removed if we will only do the work necessary to get rid of it. And what work is that you might ask? The work of humbling ourselves before God and acknowledging our sin, being truthful and sorry for what we have done and then believing and embracing by faith that indeed the Lord has forgiveness us, for as the scriptures state: “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:10-12 NIV

Feeling the weight of the guilt of your sin today? Well, now that you know how to relieve yourself of it, get to it! You’ll be so glad you did.

Prayer: Father God, how wonderful it is to know that we are a forgiven people. We do not need to bear the weight of the guilt of our sin if we will only be humble, truthful, believing people before You. Grant us this day, hearts and wills that desire to do what we need to do to become burden free people of freedom. In Christ’s name we ask. Amen.

Lynne Phipps Atlin, B.C.