The Harbinger Of Humility - Numbers 32:23

   
 But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out. - Numbers 32:23

    How often have our consciences rebuked us for wrong-doings we no longer to speak of? There are, in all of us, the dark places we have been; places we have deliberately entered,  to our own disgrace. These places we have fled from, carrying dishonor on our shoulders like the unbearable load it is. We have for the time being avoided the spotlight on our indiscretions. And if we have not confessed these spiritual sores yet, we can be certain that one day we will. “This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.” - Ecclesiastes 9:3.
     While we avoid confessing these disfigurements, we live with them the rest of our days and if we allow it, like the stigmata they will bleed continuously and profusely. No, we may not speak of them anymore but that doesn’t mean they have been forgotten. Truth be told, they are all too damnable to ever truly forget, even once we have been forgiven. The spiritual forgiveness offered and given by the grace of God should be a source of comfort to us; the lingering memory of the transgressions should be a reminder of how far we can fall from that very grace. This darkened  memory is the harbinger of humility - “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.” - 2 Corinthians 12:6-7.
    Once we have been saved by the precious blood of Jesus, we no longer remain tethered to that past indiscretion but by the memory that haunts us. It has become, by God’s loving hand, a memorial stone to our past life; to our life before eternal salvation in Christ.  The blessing comes with the warning; that we are forgiven by God and God alone, without our works, without us wielding a tool upon this holy rock of our forgiveness and salvation.  “If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it. And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.” - Exodus 20:25-26.
    The shameful memory of our transgression need not be the road we walk in the light of Christ’s atonement. Be assured, if we have been forgiven by the blood of Jesus, we have indeed been forgiven, regardless of the thorny memories of our past. “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 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 103:10-12.
    Is there some memory of sin that continues to plague us after the fact? Have we brought that sin to God and asked to be forgiven? If we are sincerely sorry for our wrongdoings, we will be forgiven by of gracious and loving God. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” - 1 John 1:9.
    There is no sin that belief and faith in Jesus Christ cannot cleanse. It is why He came to earth as the incarnation of God: to forgive us our trespasses! From forgiving the persecutor of Christians in Saul of Tarsus to forgiving the eleventh-hour plea from a thief upon a cross, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ provides us with a gift that can be gotten in no other way. By His own words He has promised to forgive us. “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” - John 6:40.
    If we have sought forgiveness for our sins, rest easy in the works of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have been forgiven. Our sins have been washed as white as snow. Let us find comfort at the foot of the cross where such forgiveness is assured.