Humidity. You can't escape it these days. Walk outside for even just a few minutes and you'll know it's around. It seems to affect every living thing. . . from dogs to humans. Humidity has a negative effect on the body. Did you know that under high humidity the evaporation of sweat from the skin is decreased and the body's efforts to maintain an acceptable body temperature can be impaired? Symptoms of high humidity in humans include a decrease in physical strength and fatigure, decrease in alertness and mental capacity, and heat stroke.
Don't you just love it when a cold front comes down from Canada and sweeps in the cool, dry air, especially after a particularly sticky hot air mass has been hanging around for what seems to be an eternity? The refreshing breeze, the cool dry feeling you get stepping out the door in the morning . . . it's wonderful!
I can't help but think how sin is so much like humidity in our lives. It's all around us. It oppresses and impairs us. Sometimes it's even hard to detect - but we know it's there. It causes us, like the psalmist, to feel discouraged, beaten down, and dejected. Consider David's words in Psalm 32:
1 Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 2 Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.
3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.
It affects our thinking, our strength, our very capacity to assume normal functions. But when we seek forgiveness. . . "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness". . . God brings in the cool dry breeze of forgiveness and we are refreshed and renewed once again.
Perhaps today you need that refreshing breeze of forgiveness in your life. It's very hard to minister to others effectively if you're doing battle with the humid, stale air of sin oppressing you. It's hard to stand up front and sing, or play your instrument, or read a Scripture, or even greet other believers when you've got the weight of all that sticky sin dragging you down. Unlike humidity, which we can't really control, forgiveness is something we can receive immediately. Perhaps this would be a good week to think about these things. Are you struggling in this area? Remember that God is ready to forgive.
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