You can be burned by charred matches and shot by empty guns.
Psalm 38:11-12
In the legal system, a residual estate is anything that isn’t specifically willed to someone. In farming, fertilizer that remains in the soil for future plantings is called residual nutrients.
Life is like both of those.
Really? How’s that?
Our words and actions never actually disappear – they linger in the heart and minds of others.
And don’t fool yourself – just because no one ever mentions them doesn’t mean they’re gone.
Today’s Tiny Words. Big Life. Bible verse finds King David feeling the effects of his sin – the residual.
In Verse 4, David says, “My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.“
Like all of us, David sinned. He couldn’t run from it. He couldn’t hide from it. It was everywhere he went.
In other words, the HEAT of charred matches never go cold. The BANG! of the guns are never go silent.
But aren’t you glad that God doesn’t allow the residual of our sin to limit His love, grace, and mercy?
While our actions will can never be undone, they have been atoned for by the sacrifice of Jesus. God has promised that He will cast them as far as the east is from the west.
That means they’re gone.
No residual.
All we have to do is ask.
The Tiny Words. Big Life. takeaway is this: Pray to be forgiven for your sin. Pray that others will show you grace. We’re all human and make mistakes. Ask those you have harmed for forgiveness.
When you do, the residual fertilizer of God’s grace will turn bitterness into sweetness and a new season’s crop of trust will bloom for all to see.
Psalm 38:11-12
11 My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds;
my neighbors stay far away.
12 Those who want to kill me set their traps,
those who would harm me talk of my ruin;
all day long they scheme and lie.