I'm Sorry, Father

READ PSALM 99

Psalm 99:8

⁸ O Lord our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.

One time years ago my little girl was running ahead of me on a sidewalk and toward some stairs. I called out and warned her to slow down or she might fall and hurt herself. It had just rained and the pavement was very slick.

She didn't listen to my warning.

In a flash her sandal slipped off her foot and caused her to trip onto the first row of stairs, and she badly scraped her knee and bruised her chin. This was one of the first times she saw her skin broken and blood flowing. Oh, believe me, there were screams and lots of tears!

I ran up to her, picked her up, and held her. I remember this moment because as she cried the only words she said were, "I'm sorry, daddy!" My sweet little girl was apologizing for not listening to my warning and now she felt the pain.

As I held her I wasn't thinking about the warning I had given her before. When she said, "I'm sorry, daddy" I forgave her immediately. She was now in my arms. But that didn't mean she was free of the consequences of running, falling, and now bleeding. She would have to live with the pain, at least for a little while.

That's what our Psalm for today shows us. God often gives us warnings in His Word. Not because He wants to keep us from the joys of life, but because He wants to keep us away from the the difficulty of it. He tells us that the consequences of not listening to Him may bring pain. And yet sometimes we run ahead. We fall. We bleed.

Will we cry out, "I'm sorry, Father?"

When we do, God forgives. We are set free of the sin, but that doesn't mean we are set free of the pain that may have been caused by it.

Some consequences of sin are temporary and heal with time. While others are physically or emotionally permanent and won't be healed this side of heaven. But what is certain is that God hears your cry of repentance, and as He runs to you He promises to lift you up into His arms of forgiveness.

Even in our own self-inflicted pain, the greatest gift the Lord gives us is His forgiveness. There is no better hug than the one that follows three simple words, "I'm sorry, Father!"

Josh Huisman is the senior pastor of Crosswalk Church in Brentwood, TN. If you would like to support this website and make it possible for this page to stay active and these devotions to reach a wider audience, CLICK HERE

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