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The Sweet Sound of
Redemption
It
began in the deep recesses of my heart. It was a relentless unsettling feeling
that left me lying in an otherwise comfortable and inviting bed for hours with
wide open eyes and a mind that would not stop racing. Sleep evaded me. Unsought
tears would form and flow down my cheeks as soft cries turned to heart
wrenching sobs. The only words my lips could form was a plea to a savior who
believed my life was worth it. Images continued to flash across my thoughts.
Images of a beaten and ridiculed man, a cross, hands with scars, a bloodstained
ground, and my own sin. It was all there- laid out at the foot of that cross-uncovered
and exposed. I felt ashamed and vulnerable that my own sin was completely
visible before Him. I deserved a look of disgust, wrath, and death. I braced
myself for these things but as I cried out to that Messiah King, all I received
was mercy. He saw my sins and the
repulsive sins of this world yet he said we were worth it. He wanted to make us
new. That night, I realized the cross was not meant to be a place of
condemnation; rather it is a throne of grace. The man nailed to it did not
intend for us to come before it and leave with shame and guilt. Instead, its
more like an alter- a place where we come face to face with our sins and the ugliness
of our hearts are exposed and he takes it. Friends, he takes it all. And when
he takes it, we leave having been washed in grace and love. We leave filled
with power and joy that can only come from an encounter with a King who has victory
over sin and death. When we leave, he speaks the same words to our hearts as he
did to the woman with the alabaster jar “You are forgiven. Go in peace”.
With
these six words, that Messiah spoke life into my soul. I found myself lying
facedown and amidst the tears and labored breaths, all I could do was whisper a
soft thank you. I remember as I laid there, my mind was flooded with verses of
men and women who existed farther back in this story of redemption. When they
found themselves before this Majestic Lord, the Word says they fell to their
face and laid prostrate praising Him. Even the saints in heaven are in this
same posture day and night crying holy.
I cannot fathom this King who believes His people are worth dying for. It
leaves me with nothing short of sheer wonder and amazement when I realize that my
own thank you blends with the beautiful chorus of the Saints before his throne and
the sinners coming to repentance- what a sweet sound that song of redemption
must be to Him.
