Peace with God

Meditations for Seeking the Life in Christ

Daily Thoughts 

January 31, 2025

Peace with God

Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven,

    whose sin is put out of sight!

Psalm 32:1

Read Psalm 32

Many years ago, in my law enforcement career, I met a teenage boy who was the victim of an assault. Several years later, before I began my pastoral ministry, I heard he was facing many criminal charges and that his life was a mess.  In despair, he had tried to take his own life, and I visited him in the hospital. In our visit, I shared with him how God had been working in my life, and I encouraged him to not give up. As we prayed together, I felt his tears dropping on my hands.

The next day, he called me. He said that after our visit, he had taken the Gideon Bible off the bedside table and opened it. The first passage he saw was Psalm 32. As we talked, it was clear my friend was experiencing the joy of those “whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered,” and the happiness of “those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity” (Psalm 32:1-2 NRSV). My friend had absolutely nothing he could offer God, nothing but a cry for mercy, based on Christ’s love for him. He cried out, and God forgave him and crowned him with new life in Christ.

One of my clergy mentors, Bud Harkey, was a student at Asbury College in 1970 when God moved in a mighty way, and many, many lives were transformed. Bud told me the igniting point was when a member of the Asbury community confessed her sin and cried out to God for forgiveness. After that there were Chapel services, for weeks, where students would give their witness. They would talk about how God was dealing with them about sin in their life, and then they told how God had brought them forgiveness and restoration. Then somebody in the audience would say, ‘that’s like me,’ and that person would come under conviction and come forward and kneel at the altar. A similar revival took place at Asbury in 2023.

My Takeaway: The greatest blessing is to be at peace with God, and at peace with one self. 

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2025 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.