"In the evening you will have meat and in the morning you will be stuffed with bread, and you shall know that I am Jehovah your God.
- Exodus 16:12 (TLB).
There is something very satisfying in seeing row upon row of canned goods added to my shelves, jars of fruit and vegetables that are the colour of gems: ruby salsa and spaghetti sauce, golden peaches, pale pears, emerald pickles, and jams in a rainbow of colours. This is the season of abundance, and it is very obvious in my kitchen.
Just as God provided for the Israelites, He provides for us. So many of us have more than we need. Our cupboards are filled to overflowing. In this season of abundance, let's take a moment to remember others, and to share some of what we might have. As God has richly blessed us, so may we bless others.
"He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy." - Proverbs 28:13 (NIV).
I read a story about a husband who came home drunk late one night and snuck up the stairs as quietly as possible to avoid waking his wife. He looked in the bathroom mirror and bandaged the bumps and bruises he'd received in a fight earlier that night. He then proceeded to climb into bed, smiling at the thought that he'd pulled a "swiftie" over on his wife.
When morning came, he opened his eyes and there stood his wife. "You were drunk last night, weren't you?"
"No, honey."
"Well, if you weren't, then who put all the band-aids on the bathroom mirror?"
If truth be known, most of us want to hide our sins and the wrongs that we have done for fear of being found out and shamed. However, try as we might, we can never hide the accompanying guilt. We may bury it in the unconscious mind but there it is never forgotten—and what we fail to talk out (confess) creatively we will inevitably act out destructively in one way or another. Unresolved guilt can cause serious physical, emotional and/or spiritual distress and major relational conflicts.
When King David committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband, Uriah, killed in an attempt to hide his sin, his guilt tormented him.
In the Psalms he wrote, "Day and night your [God's] hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, 'I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.' And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone." - Psalm 32:4-5 (NLT).
We have all sinned and we all need God's forgiveness and healing from guilt and its damaging consequences. The good news is that, as God's Word says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." - I John 1:9 (NIV).
