Friday, October 31, 2014

Psalms 69:5-8 -- On Repentance and Alien Costumes

"O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee.
Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.
Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.
I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children."
Psalms 69:5-8


Sometimes talking to God can make us feel really foolish.  This is natural, because we *are* often foolish, especially compared to God, and while we're talking to God is exactly when we should realize it, so we can do something about it and repent.  We make massive mistakes in our lives, some of which hurt other people... and so we pray that where we cannot heal that hurt, that God will ameliorate the consequences for us.  Sometimes, in order to move forward in our lives we have to face the past.  Reproach and shame are common during repentance, as is feeling alienated from our families or friends.
The cool thing about conversations like this is that when we are at this stage, we really are ready to repent.  We realize our own foolishness... that it *is* in fact foolishness and not something that we want to continue doing or being.  We really are sorry for how we have affected others negatively, and we want to heal our relationships and not be aliens anymore. :)
Today, let's realize our foolishness, take off our alien costumes, and solve the problems in our lives that are getting in the way of our spiritual progress.  Let's repent and return to God.

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