Sword and Trowel

Isaiah 59:12; Ephesians 1:4-6; 4:1, 31; 2 Corinthians 5:21

For our transgressions are multiplied before You, And our sins testify against us; For our transgressions are with us, And as for our iniquities, we know them:

Holy Father,

We come before you naked, and ashamed. For all our sins are laid bare before you; all our transgressions we have committed in your sight. We have both openly violated your law, and hidden sin within our hearts, thinking no one knows of them, or making excuses for them, thinking them insignificant.

But you know them Father, and no man can make excuse to you. There is none such rebellion against you as to count as insignificant, for all rebellion against you is to strike you in the face with the hands that you created Lord, that were made to embrace you.

Forgive us, Lord, I ask, for our open rebellion. Forgive us Lord, I ask, for our so-called secret, or insignificant sins. And forgive us Lord, I ask, for when we, like our first parents, attempt to hide ourselves from you, covering ourselves with the fig leaves of our own self-righteousness.

Yet, Lord, you have not left us without grace. Our hatred, malice, ill-will, vain-glory, licentiousness, covetousness, rebellions, lies; Lord, our many temptations and falls – all these things we lay at the foot of the cross, for you made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Father, we can do nothing but claim the blood of Christ.

Remember not our transgressions Lord, and empower us now by your Spirit to walk worthy of the calling to which we have been called that we should be holy and without blame before You in love, You having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Yourself, according to the good pleasure of Your will,to the praise of the glory of Your grace, by which You made us accepted in the Beloved.

It is in Christ’s Name I pray,

Amen.

Based on Psalms 1, 30, and 130.

O LORD God,

If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? For we have sinned against you times without number.

We have walked in the counsel of the ungodly, trusting in the world’s wisdom, and in created things, rather than in You, the Creator, and in your truth.

We have stood with sinners, seeking fellowship with the world, and deliberately rejecting fellowship with you.

We have scorned and mocked others, oftentimes those who are the weakest among us. Lord, what we have done to the least of these, we have done to you. Forgive us Lord.

We have not taken delight in your instruction, but instead have seen it as a burden. Our minds and our hearts have wandered far from you. Lord, Forgive us.

Lord, it is your hands that have made us, and it is you who have planted us by streams of living water. Forgive us for being content with mere smatterings of rain, instead of drinking deeply of the river of your word. May we not be like the fig tree which, when you looked to it for fruit, found none.

Lord, as we confess our guilt to you, help us to feel it deeply, help us to have true godly self-despair. You have said in your word that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Lord, help us to understand that without Christ, we can do nothing.

Yet,

Help us to remember that our hope is in you, and in the Lamb that takes away sin. You have said in your word that a righteous man may fall seven times and stand again, and Lord, we have fallen seventy times seven. We cry out with Peter, as he saw the waves, “Lord, save me!”

So Lord, help us to stand up.

For, I cried to You for help, and You healed me.
Lord, You brought me up from Sheol;
You spared me from among those
going down to the Pit.
Sing to Yahweh, you His faithful ones,
and praise His holy name.
For His anger lasts only a moment,
but His favor, a lifetime.
Weeping may spend the night,
but there is joy in the morning.

It is in Christ’s holy name I pray,

Amen.

Based off of Psalm 130, Colossians 3, 1 John 3, and the Catechism.

O LORD God,

If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? For we have sinned against you times without number.

We have rejected and ignored you in the world that you have created. We have rebelled against you by living without regard for you, by failing to give you your due honor, and by not doing what you require of us in your holy law. Have mercy on us, Lord.

We who have practiced sin have practiced lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness.

We have trusted in created things rather than you O Lord, the Creator, for our hope, happiness, and security, thus committing idolatry. Have mercy on us, Lord.

O God, all these things are a direct affront to your sovereignty, holiness, and goodness, and against your righteous law, and your are righteously angry with our sins and would be completely just in destroying us in your wrath, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Lord, we are disobedient sons. Have mercy on us O LORD.

We have nothing in ourselves that could save us from this state. Thank you for providing us a Redeemer, your own Son, the Christ, who came, who lived a sinless life, who died for our sins, and who was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. It is only by His blood that we can stand in your presence. We repent of our sins, we trust in your Son, and we claim the blood of Christ. It is in His name we pray,

Amen.