“Here’s what David says: What happy fulfillment is ahead for those whose rebellion has been forgiven, and whose sins are covered by blood.”
Romans 4:7 [TPT]
Whatever my rebellion was, whatever it has been, whatever it is right now, I thank God that He is presently telling me (and you) through His Word that I am living in a day where it has been forgiven. David, who knew the low down, and was way ahead of his time (e.g. produced phat beats in like 1000 BC) looked up to God and said these things…
And Paul the Apostle wrote to the Christians in Rome in 57 AD about how David’s lyrics had been a prophecy and a promise over everyone (anyone throughout all of human history) who believes God and has their belief accredited to them as righteousness.
We’re not talking about that high-and-mighty act that comes to mind for most of us when we hear someone talk about ‘righteousness’. We’re talking about everything in a person’s heart and mind getting somehow miraculously restored to the “right” places (right in the sense of the opposite of what we feel when we think a little bit too hard about the world, and lament on the way so many things seem to be somehow so terribly wrong.)
I think it’s important for modern readers to remember the bits about things like “covered by blood” and whatnot — not because they have any semblance of an actual cultural point of reference for them, or can possibly relate to them in any sort of real, experiential way, but precisely because they (we) cannot, and this keeps them (us) also remembering that there are things about God about which we [by virtue of our culture of origin being what it now is] are so absolutely out of touch that staying humble and teachable is an absolute must for someone interested in choosing this life again and again, new each moment, which is the way it really has to be chosen, due to the unrealistically foolish number of times a day we are, for some reason, confronted with the necessity of choosing it over some type of offense (pain, outrage, difficulty) which might cross our path.
Sorry, that was random!
…What happy progress comes to them
when they hear the Lord speak over them,
“I will never hold your sins against you!”
Our progress comes when we hear God tell us how He sees us, what his plans are for us. It has to start with us hearing Him tell us about those things. Everything flows out of that place. We cannot put any of our particular carts before that exact horse, or we end up all turned around.
