Psalm 130
One of the misunderstandings rampant in traditional Christianity is the idea that the obstacle to our salvation is forgiveness. We have, therefore, constructed an entire theology around the life and death (especially the death) of Jesus that advances the idea that before His death, God the Father wouldn’t forgive us, but after His death, God the Father acquiesced, and we can now be forgiven for our sins.
Psalm 85
In this psalm, the word Selah came immediately after this passage: “You forgave the guilt of the people and covered all their sins.” (vs 2) If you remember from a few days back, the word Selah most likely means to stop and carefully think about what has just been declared. God forgives our guilt and covers all our sins. Now stop and think about that!
2 SAMUEL 18
Outside of Jesus’s cry of abandonment on the cross, this chapter contains, perhaps, the most heart-wrenching cry in the Bible: "O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you—O Absalom, my son, my son!" (vs 33) Sure, at first you might think any father would be devastated over the loss of a child. But this wasn’t your average child. Absalom wasn’t a good boy. In fact, when he was killed, he had one goal in mind: to murder his father.
