April 28 | Psalm 130

Pam Mann
Apr 28
3 min read

DAILY READING

REFLECTION

Are We There Yet?

By Pam Mann

"Are we there yet?" I asked this question a lot as a child on family car trips. Those long car trips seemed to take forever. My parents would say that we’re going to drive X number of hours on this trip. I would try to calculate how many “I Love Lucy” shows it would take to equal that amount of time. Of course, now, kids can actually watch shows as their family SUV zips down the interstate highway.

I’m not great at waiting. I admire the psalmist who sings in verse 5:

I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits...

I rarely get my whole being to do any single thing while the psalmist gets his whole being to wait. Impressive. Maybe even mysterious. I mean, how ever does he do it?

Personally, I’m stuck at verse 1 and 2 ...crying. I cry to the Lord. Be attentive to my cry for mercy. The psalmist doesn’t want me to stay there, though. If I’m crying to the Lord for mercy, then I ought to consider who is the Lord to whom I’m crying. The psalmist helps me then with considering God’s character in verses 3 and 4.

Our God, though holy and almighty, does not keep a record of sins. Though there’s a lot of sin happening every moment, God Almighty could handle the record keeping. But, for those who covered by the blood of the Lamb, the slate is wiped clean. I remember the Sunday School class, when as a kid, I first learned that there’s a book of life in heaven, not

a record of our sins. The teacher was teaching about the Book of Life in Revelation, which records the names of those who are saved. I asked, “But what about the black book that records all our wrongs?” The teacher said, “Oh, no! Our sins are washed away! We have forgiveness in Jesus. God’s book is a book of life.”

“Really?” I needed to make sure she had her facts straight. Now, at this point in the life of my birth family, my dad dropped us four kids off every Sunday morning at the Lutheran church for Sunday School and then picked us up when it was over. As soon as Dad drove the station wagon into our drive, I tore out of the car and ran up the porch steps. “Mom! Mom!” I recounted to my mother the good news I had learned that morning. Surprisingly to me, my mom seemed sobered by this news. She had been in the habit of telling me every time I did something bad, “That’s another black mark in God’s book.” In her defense, she probably simply wanted me to know sin has consequences and God sees all. But the sin tracking bit was totally non-biblical. I had expected her to be as excited I was that our sins, are forgiven, though God knows every one of them. She remained sober and pensive.

Eventually my parents also went into the church with us kids. Maybe forgiveness was too good of a deal to pass up. They became active church members, who could cry to the Lord because with Him is forgiveness and full redemption. There’s a lot of waiting. And here’s more good news: it’s okay that we’re not there yet.

We’re on the road. We’re heading in the right direction. We wait for the Lord. If we lose our way or get turned around, we put our hope in the Lord’s unfailing love. He will redeem us from all our sins.

PRAYER

Lord, we’re not there yet. You alone know when the journey ends. We thank You for Your unfailing love and mercy on every stretch of the road ahead.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PAM MANN

I first joined UALC when my husband (then my fiancé) and I were college students involved in youth ministry. God has used UALC to nurture our family’s faith, even in our years outside the U.S. I’ve participated in UALC ministries with kids, art, prayer, exercise, ESL, and Bible teaching. I do all the fun church things.