Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Forgiven Much {The Other Beatitudes}

 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit.
You are a hiding place for me;
You preserve me from trouble;
You surround me with songs of deliverance.”

Psalm 32:2-3,7 ESV

 



How happy is the one

From whom guilt’s burden is lifted,

Upon whose doorposts drips

The blood of paschal lamb.

How happy the one the Lord declares

Not guilty of iniquity.

In spite of all she’s done,

It is true:

In the declaring there is no deceit,

For another, faultless, has borne

Her sins and carried 

Her sorrows. He clothed himself

With prodigal’s rags, suffered

His soul to hunger,

But did not stoop to the locust pods of swine.

He was stripped that she might wear

the royal robe of righteousness.

He went barefoot that her feet might be sturdily shod.

The ring of adoption gleams on her finger

Because the firstborn carried her guilt away

And declared the priestly atonement labor finished;

It has been completed.

“Thou are all fair, my love;

There is no spot in thee.”

His holiness is her hiding place,

His satisfaction her shield,

His delight her deliverance.

Selah.