When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions. – Psalm 65:3

 Today's Scripture Reading (July 14, 2022): Psalm 65

In his classic western novel, "True Grit," American author Charles Portis wrote, "you must pay for everything in this world one way and another. There is nothing free except the Grace of God. You cannot earn that or deserve it." God's grace is the one thing we cannot buy, and that we will never deserve, yet it is one of our most desperately needed conditions. We need grace every moment of our day.

David showed proper respect for the sacrificial system of his day. He made the sacrifices as prescribed in the law, but he seemed to know that something more was needed. It was one thing to go through the rituals of Judaism, but the Poet King knew that what he really needed, no sacrifice would be able to give him. It was something that he could not buy or earn. He needed grace, and he couldn't obtain that by fulfilling the rituals of the faith.

But not only did David need it, he felt he had received it. Even in the moments when he knew that he had sinned so much that he felt overwhelmed by his own actions, God's grace covered his transgressions. And not just David's sin, but God's grace was big enough for the entire nation. Regardless of how much Israel sinned, grace was there for the asking. And with the grace came the forgiveness that their lives, and ours, need.

Grace was something that, living a couple of hundred years after David, the Prophet Jonah understood. After the salvation of Nineveh, Jonah makes this complaint to God.

"Isn't this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live" (Jonah 4:3).

History has recorded how great the sin of Nineveh was, and Jonah didn't want to go to the city because he was afraid the grace of God was big enough even for Nineveh. And the Prophet was right.

The good news is that the grace of God is still big enough, even for us. We are still a people overwhelmed by our sins, but if we accept it, we are still covered by the grace of God. God is still the only one who has the capacity to forgive our transgressions.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Psalm 68