“Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs _________ in his ways.” If you had to choose a word, what might fill in the blank? How about “the humble”? How about “the upright”? “The righteous” would also fill in the blank nicely. All of these would qualify as students who listen and are teachable.
But what does David say? “He instructs sinners in his ways.” That is an amazing statement considering that God is good and upright. You would figure that God would choose only righteous people to be His students. After all, if the best universities maintain the highest entrance standards, wouldn’t God expect as much?
Thankfully, God has an “open enrollment”! He loves the most difficult students and the slowest of learners. What is the only requirement for the entrance exam? To seek forgiveness! Verse 11 says, “For the sake of your name, Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.”
Sin can harden our hearts and cause us to doubt whether we can trust God to forgive us. But it can also humble us and lead us to the place where we receive God’s forgiveness and follow God’s instructions. The good news of God’s grace is that He comes looking for us even if we skip class!
As we continue in our sermon series called, “Songs for the Searching,” my prayer is that God will remind us that He can be trusted; not because of who we are, but because of who He is. Our hope is in the God who is faithful and the God who saves. That is why we can say, “To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust!”
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Aaron
But what does David say? “He instructs sinners in his ways.” That is an amazing statement considering that God is good and upright. You would figure that God would choose only righteous people to be His students. After all, if the best universities maintain the highest entrance standards, wouldn’t God expect as much?
Thankfully, God has an “open enrollment”! He loves the most difficult students and the slowest of learners. What is the only requirement for the entrance exam? To seek forgiveness! Verse 11 says, “For the sake of your name, Lord, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.”
Sin can harden our hearts and cause us to doubt whether we can trust God to forgive us. But it can also humble us and lead us to the place where we receive God’s forgiveness and follow God’s instructions. The good news of God’s grace is that He comes looking for us even if we skip class!
As we continue in our sermon series called, “Songs for the Searching,” my prayer is that God will remind us that He can be trusted; not because of who we are, but because of who He is. Our hope is in the God who is faithful and the God who saves. That is why we can say, “To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust!”
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Aaron
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