Repentance can’t be about me.

Though our iniquities testify against us,

act, O Lord, for your name's sake;

for our backslidings are many;

we have sinned against you.

Jeremiah 14:7

Repentance isn’t about me. Repentance is all about what I realize about God and the enormity of my sin against Him. In this confessional from the prophet Jeremiah, the way in which Judah needed to repent is put into prophetic words. And the spotlight shines brightly on God and His glory. Our sins testify against us, showing us how short we fall from the holiness of God. Our deliberate rejection of God is behind every sin. And the One we answer to, against whom we bear the guilt of our sins, is God.

But the prayer of confession here calls God to act... to grant hope and be our Savior (Jeremiah 14:8). And the reason He does this is not for our sake. It is for His name’s sake. God saves us... Jesus saves us... for His glory and not for our own. If we have been spared His eternal judgment and granted eternal life and the righteousness of Christ applied to us, it is only because He is most glorified in being merciful to sinners and gracious to repentant sinners like us because of Christ and for His own glory!

O Lord,

My iniquities are many and testify against me. They cascade down my life and at this stage I will limp with the scars of them in some way or another until I am in heaven with You. My sin falls short of Your glory and pulls me from You. Against You have I sinned... intentionally and often without even giving it a second thought. I am a glory thief. Yet, in Jesus You have acted to save me for Your name’s sake. I pull the attention off me! I confess my sin and fall on my knees before my only Savior! Act in grace, O my God and Savior for Your glory! Be glorious in Your grace to sinners!

Amen

“...and when I think that God His Son not sparing

Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in

That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing

He bled and died, to take away my sin...

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee...

How great Thou art... How great Thou art...”