Psalm Meditation 1313 ¶Proper 15 ¶August 17, 2025 ¶Psalm 32 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%2032&version=NRSVUE ¶The extremes of forgiven people are those who are humbled by the grace of the one who haw forgiven, and those who become cocky, knowing they can do it all again because they now have a clean slate. Both are happy, in a dictionary definition kind of way. The first group is set free from the guilt and shame of having wronged someone by having been forgiven. The other group gets smug about having been forgiven for something that probably wasn’t their fault in the first place to their way of thinking. ¶Sin does take a toll on us, whether we realize it or not. It makes us hard, and impenetrable as we build walls to protect ourselves from the painful realization that we are not the people we want to be. When we acknowledge our sin, own up to it ourselves, and confess it to someone, we find that we can soften our defenses and become the people we want to be. Especially when we can confess to the one we have wronged and received their forgiveness, we are able to have the weight of our sin lifted. ¶God is one of those who can forgive before we ask, because it is the nature of God to be loving and forgiven. The task before us in our relationship with God is to accept and receive the forgiveness that God so graciously offers. We may think we don’t deserve it, and maybe we don’t. However, God is ready and willing to forgive us. We do still have to suffer any consequences of our actions, however we face them knowing that we have been forgiven by God. ¶August 11, 2025 ¶LCM