Tag: transgressions

August 28 – For Want of God’s Leadership

“When a land transgresses, it has many rulers, but with a man of understanding and knowledge, its stability will long continue.” – Proverbs 28:2 (ESV)

Another promise that warns of bad actions. This is meant for the land or country ruled by unrighteous leaders. Unrighteousness in a nation produces political instability, with many vying for power. The tenure of each leader is shortened. But wisdom promotes social order and long rule. Poor leadership creates instability on a national level. This is not only true in the current state of most countries today but it has been true over the centuries before and since these proverbs were written. Avarice leads to greed for power and control. False promises abound to the point that the people of a land cease to trust what their leadership says. Does any of this sound familiar these days? There is a promise that is good and true in the second part of the proverb. We can acknowledge God’s hand in the perpetuation of the state led by men of understanding and knowledge. The long and prosperous reigns of the kings of Judah – the Southern Kingdom are strongly contrasted with the records of Israel after the ten tribes split and formed the Northern Kingdom where not a single king is called Good.

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July 27 – Immeasurable Distances

“For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” – Psalm 103:11-12 (ESV)

If you followed current events in July 2021 you know that two very wealthy men have successfully left Earth’s gravity and reach Zero-G space. Each for only a very short time but they did it on their own dime. Zero-G is found more than 60 miles straight up. That is quite a distance. Yesterday we considered how God’s ways are higher than our ways and Isaiah compared that with how the heavens are higher than the earth. The heavens in these verses from yesterday and today is much more than simply reaching Zero-G. The heavens are everything from there to the unknown end of the universe. David, like Isaiah, uses such immeasurable distances to demonstrate how much God loves those who fear him. He adds another comparison – the distance between east and west. That is also an immeasurable distance. By going westward from anywhere, we never actually find where east begins. If we travel eastward, we will circumnavigate the globe without reaching west because it will always be behind us. God has removed our transgressions from us to a point that cannot be found. This is a promise for all who in faith believe in Jesus.

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February 20 – Forgotten by God for Good


“I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Put me in remembrance; let us argue together; set forth your case, that you may be proved right.” Isaiah 43:25-26 (ESV)

The Children of Israel and all whom God the Father has chosen for His own seemed to ever fail Him. Often they acted as if there was no hope for them. and it looks like there is no hope for us either as we hope to live according to how God has called us to live. In the next verse (27), Isaiah states our problem. God said, “Your first father sinned, and your mediators transgressed against me.” Over and over the pattern is for God to rescue us, His people, from our failed efforts to please Him. He does it for His own sake because He first loved us, then He chose us before he created the world (Ephesians 1:3-5), then He provided the only way for us to be saved by grace through a faith, which He gave us (Ephesians 2:8). Our verse today promises that He is the One who blots out our transgressions, and removes them from His memory. If that is difficult to believe He challenges any honest seeker to set forth any argument that they think proves otherwise. It cannot be done honestly if one is truly seeking God’s absolute truth.

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