Devotionals by Jill Briscoe

Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves; then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness. - Psalm 51:14

When we are truly sorry, and truly forgiven, guilt cannot blanket our souls with depression anymore. Guilt smothers, whispering in our ears, “Don’t try again; you’ll fail.” Or, “The thing you did is unforgivable; you’ll never recover from it.”

After you have been angry with yourself for hurting God and those you love, and he has forgiven you, you have to forgive yourself. After all, true repentance has led to true confession, which must lead to true freedom from guilt. “Forgive me for shedding blood, O God,” cried David. David wanted his heart to sing again, but guilt doesn’t know any songs! He longed to tell others that God was right and he was wrong, but guilt sealed his lips. Guilt wants you to go on being angry with yourself forever.

We may experience guilt because we are guilty. This helps us become angry with ourselves and confess our sin. When we hear God tell us he forgives us, we can stop being angry with ourselves. God can and will save us from the guilt and power of sin. Some people live all their lives forgiven, yet guilty. “I don’t feel forgiven,” said a despondent single. “How can I get out from under all this guilt?”

Ask God to forgive you for nursing guilt when he has dealt with it all. Dare to believe that the God of your salvation has saved you, not just from sin, but from guilt as well!

Excerpted from The One Year Devotions for Women, Copyright ©2000 by Jill Briscoe. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

For more from Jill Briscoe, please visit TellingtheTruth.org.

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