Psalm 51:1–5 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Some days the enormity of my sin and guilt tries to consume me. I know my shortcomings better than anyone, with the exception of my Lord. And I know that I am truly a poor, miserable sinner. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. I don’t need anyone to point it out to me. And yet Satan continues to attack me with reminders of how I have fallen short of God’s glory.

But even on my worst day, I know that I am a forgiven child of God. When Satan brings up all my failures, my past misdeeds, my ongoing struggle with sin, I remember that my salvation is not dependent on how I feel or even what I do. My forgiveness comes from what Jesus did for me through His cross. Heaven is mine because Jesus defeated death for me. My faith lays hold of what Jesus did.

My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’s blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.
(The Lutheran Hymnal #370, stanza 1)

Psalm 95:1 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.

Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness My beauty are, my glorious dress;
Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed, With joy shall I lift up my head.

 Lord, I believe Thy precious blood, Which at the mercy seat of God
Forever doth for sinners plead, For me – e’en for my soul – was shed.
(The Lutheran Hymnal #371, stanzas 1,4)

Thanks be to God. He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.