Journey to the Cross

Pause

“I don't think anyone, until their soul leaves their body, is past the point of no return.”

Tom Hiddleston, actor

Listen

When I kept quiet, my bones wore out; I was groaning all day long—
every day, every night!— because your hand was heavy upon me. My energy was sapped as if in a summer drought. Selah

So I admitted my sin to you; I didn’t conceal my guilt. “I’ll confess my sins to the Lord,” is what I said. Then you removed the guilt of my sin. Selah

Psalm 32:3-5

Think

Have you ever heard the phrase “burden of proof?”  Typically we associate this terminology with courtroom drama in which we are “presumed innocent until proven guilty,” and the “burden of proof” is on the prosecution.

But what about those of us struggling with our own reluctance to be in right relationship with God, with our neighbors, and even with ourselves?

I know that when I am carrying guilt I feel heavy. The Psalmist paints a graphic picture of carrying sin and guilt using images of groaning and being bone weary and sapped of energy.

Yet the final verse offers a path to return to the Lord. “I’ll confess my sins to the Lord.”

Do you need to have a conversation with God about something weighing heavily on your heart?

God longs for our prayers so that we might be healed of the wounds of sin that we carry. In this season of Lent we are called to take the risk of repenting, naming our sins, and returning to the Lord.

Bronwyn Clark Skov

Pray

God of Mercy, I am sorry that I have not always done what you wanted me to do. I have not loved you with all my heart, and I have not cared enough for other people. Forgive me, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

adapted from A New Zealand Prayer Book

Go

Return to me, says the Lord of heavenly forces, and I will return to you . . .

Zechariah 1:3