Saturday after the nineteenth Sunday after Trinity, 11/4/00

Psalm 51: 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with Your generous Spirit. --NKJV

In the name of the One Who restores joy to us, amen.

In the Novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four" by George Orwell, there is a place called "The Ministry of Love." In this place a person is separated from those he loves by being coaxed into saying hurtful things about them. Once this happens, the person never feels the same about those he loved.

George Orwell was a very insightful person. If you slander someone you love, the joy of the relationship is replaced by feelings of guilt, and that guilt is hard to overcome. When a person realizes that he has sinned against God, and all sin is ultimately against God, he feels a wedge driven between himself and the Savior. If you have ever gotten caught up in "big sins," chances are that you found yourself far away from God. You avoided going to church, or found excuses to stand outside of the sanctuary rather than come into the presence of God with your brothers and sisters in The Faith. The Joy is gone, and an uncomfortable nagging feeling remains. You had trouble coming to the only One Who could help you.

God understands this better than any of us do, and so He caused St. David to write the words we meditate on today, "Restore to me the joy of Your salvation." You probably sing those words every Sunday right after the sermon. In the sermon you take a look at your sin, then you hear the healing Gospel that forgives you. That healing Gospel is words of absolution that place you back in the proper relationship with God. It is then that you need the Holy Spirit to return you to the joy that you had-joy in God's salvation. May you truly understand that all your sins are forgiven in Christ Jesus. May you realize that God accepts as His own child. May you once again have great joy in the salvation that Jesus won for you. Amen.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, there are times when we feel so far away from You. When that happens, forgive us our sins, and throw Your arms around us to comfort us in Your salvation, amen.

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