April 26

You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence. — Ps 90:8 BSB

Moses testified, and Job experienced it: “You write bitter things against me and make me inherit the sins of my youth” (Job 13:26). When the Lord brings His people’s sins into the light of His presence, they bear down heavily on their conscience. He may, for a time, let them sink into deep distress and grief, but He will not let them be utterly crushed under the weight of it.

I believe one of the most overlooked graces in the Church today is the grace of repentance. It lies at the very foundation of true godliness and was a key element in the gospel that Paul preached. He testified to both Jews and Gentiles of “repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21). Yet how little is said of repentance today. People speak much of faith, hope, and love, but where is repentance, contrition, and godly sorrow for sin?

Books and sermons may pass by this grace, but the Lord does not. He will bring our secret sins into the light of His presence, and when He lays them on the conscience, we will feel how bitter and evil it is to have sinned against Him.