Chapter 78—Acceptable Confession
“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth
and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”
The conditions of obtaining mercy of God are simple and just and
reasonable. The Lord does not require us to do some grievous thing in
order that we may have the forgiveness of sin. We need not make long
and wearisome pilgrimages or perform painful penances, to commend
our souls to the God of heaven or to expiate our transgression; but
he that confesseth and forsaketh his sin shall have mercy. This is a
precious promise, given to fallen man to encourage him to trust in the
God of love and to seek for eternal life in His kingdom.
We read that Daniel, the prophet of God, was a man “greatly
beloved” of heaven. He held a high position in the courts of Babylon
[636]
and served and honored God alike in prosperity and trial, and yet he
humbled himself and confessed his sin and the sin of his people. With
deep sorrow of heart he acknowledged: “We have sinned, and have
committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even
by departing from Thy precepts and from Thy judgments: neither have
we hearkened unto Thy servants the prophets, which spake in Thy
name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people
of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto Thee, but unto us
confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that
are far off, through all the countries whither Thou hast driven them,
because of their trespass that they have trespassed against Thee.”
Daniel did not seek to excuse himself or his people before God;
but in humility and contrition of soul he confessed the full extent and
demerit of their transgressions, and vindicated God’s dealings as just
toward a nation that had set at nought His requirements and would not
profit by His entreaties.
There is great need today of just such sincere, heartfelt repentance
and confession. Those who have not humbled their souls before God
in acknowledging their guilt have not yet fulfilled the first condition of
570