Confession is good for the soul. I am not talking about confession as a time to go and talk to a priest or your best friend. I am referring to time spent in prayer asking God to forgive the sins that you have committed against him. The other night I woke with a sharp pain in the middle finger of my right hand. Arthritis strikes again for the second night in a row. Immediately my mind turned from arthritis to cancer concerns. Grace had told me earlier that day that she wanted to make it to 6th grade before cancer came back. I told her I was hoping and praying for 30 cancer free years.

I was determined to have victory over the interruption to my sleep. To do that I had to move from worry to prayer. I asked the Lord so you want me to get up now? It was after all three a.m. Psalm 56 came to mind. I got up and immediately read through the Psalm. As always I looked for a verse about good health. God once again did not disappoint. Verse 13 reads, “For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.” Yea! But there was more. I began reading through the song again.

The first phrase in verse one wowed me. “Be merciful to me, O God” I was cloaked in my hot pink prayer shawl partly because I sought to meet with God and partly because I was chilled. I thought about my need for mercy and began asking God to forgive me for my worry, for my judgmental attitude, forgive me for my unkind words, pride and even my overeating.

At this point I got extremely hot. Like hot flash hot for those who understand that terminology. I was just about to throw off my shawl when I thought to myself, “Satan does not like it when I confess my sin to the Lord.” Why? Because I am closest to the Lord when I am freshly cleaned. When I acknowledge my sin before him I am forgiven and most like his son Jesus who never sinned. I wrapped up tighter in my prayer shawl and enjoyed his prescience as I read through Isaiah 6:5-7. “Woe to me!’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I like among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.’ Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touch my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” Jesus has already atoned for my sin, but there is cleansing with confession. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.” I John 1:9-10.