I was baptized into our church numerous years ago….to this day I cannot remember the year but the day was Saturday, May 14. My sister and I and our pastor had been studying, and I had decided to give my life to Jesus. Our pastor did something with every person making the same decision…he had us choose a Bible verse that meant the most to us and that would be shared with those who would witness our decision. Now I was probably eight or nine years old, and the enormity of choosing one verse out the entire Bible was overwhelming. I akin it now to naming a child….how do I pick the right verse / name FOREVER???
Always one to be different…I chose Isaiah 43:25.
I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.
The Lord, spoken through prophet Isaiah
And the years have passed. That verse isn’t one that graces my walls…it’s not written somewhere in a journal…I never see it on an Etsy print….and some times I have had to wonder why I chose THAT verse?
I was reading this morning in a book written in the 1800s called Patriarchs and Prophets, a commentary on the books in the Old Testament. I am reading about Saul, the first anointed king of Israel. He was anointed against God’s will…God had set himself as Israel’s king if they would have him, with communication through the prophets. Israel was to be a peculiar nation–all the nations surrounding them had a physical king that they could promote and pay homage to. Israel had a God that no-one could see.
Israel begged God, through a prophet, for a REAL king. And against God’s preferred plan for His people, he granted them a stunning king, King Saul. And for the first couple of years Saul followed God’s design…but then, emboldened by a couple of successful battles, Saul began to fall to the temptations of fame and fortune. Through power and pride Saul began to make poor decision after poor decision…and no longer sought God’s counsel for his direction. And this began to cause distrust, anger, and fear among the people because of losses in battles and instability in their King. God determined that Saul wasn’t fit to be the king anymore and young David the shepherd was the anointed.
The stories are amazing….but this paragraph was the one that caught my eye this morning….and brought to memory MY Bible verse.
All through his course of rebellion, Saul had been flattered and deceived by Satan. It is the tempter’s work to belittle sin, to make the path of transgression easy and inviting, to blind the mind to the warning and threatenings of the Lord. Satan, by his bewitching power, had led Saul to justify himself in defiance of Samuel’s reproofs and warning. But now, in his extremity, [Satan] turned upon [Saul], presenting the enormity of his sin and the hopelessness of pardon, that he might goad him to desperation. Nothing could have been better chosen to destroy his courage and confuse his judgment, or to drive him to despair and self-destruction.”
Patriarchs and Prophets
Saul ultimately, when surrounded by his enemies and seeing the destruction of his own army, fell onto his own sword, ending the life of one who had been chosen of God. The fear and shame of his poor decisions drove him to this point.
So why was this verse so important to me, even way back then? I understand that there are different personalities, different things that everyone deals with. I, particularly, have historically found myself one susceptible to the weight of shame. To this day, I can bring to my memory numerous stories from a young age when I’ve done something to cause myself to be shamed. And I find them becoming more pronounced when I’m tired….overwhelmed…cannot sleep….depressed. How many people to do I know who have found themselves saying the same thing?
This verse….reminds me that I can be CONFIDENT that…though I’m deserving of shame…my Savior has promised me…before I was born and written in the Bible…when I was born-again and baptized…before I had even committed any of these acts (no matter how minor)…that even when Satan tries to hold them over me….they are NO LONGER remembered by God.
David was called ‘the man after God’s own heart.’ Not because he was free from sin….the Bible lists the numerous indiscretions of the second King of Israel….but because, unlike Saul, he humbled himself and chose to believe in the saving grace of God who could free him from the shame that threatened to overwhelm.
Praise God for causing this verse to be MY verse so many years ago. “I, even I, am He who blots out your sins….and remembers them NO MORE.” Maybe…maybe you need this verse today, too. I’d be glad to share….
