IT IS told of a converted. Indian chief, that; after describing his pierced and wounded condition when under conviction for sin as “a stricken deer which left the herd, to die,” he said of the sensations of new life experienced by him on the day of his salvation, “On that day the world seemed all fresh and new to me; it seemed like a new creation. I looked around, and the trees and fields were so green, the lake was so blue, the sunshine so bright, the sky was so glad. Oh! that was a splendid day on which God for Christ’s sake forgave my sins.”
Was it that things around had changed? No, but a new joy had taken possession of his heart. Joy in the sense of forgiveness flooded his soul, and so all appeared different to him. His conviction of sin, of his unfitness for the eye of a holy God, had weighed heavily upon him, and now the relief was great in proportion.
It is often so at first, and then perhaps, the joy subsides a little; but if we are resting on Christ’s unchanging work and God’s unchanging word, peace remains, because that depends wholly on simply believing what God has said, and it says, in Romans 4:2525Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:25) and 5:1: “Who (that is, Christ) was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“My love is ofttimes low,
My joy still ebbs and flows;
But peace with Him remains the same,
No change Jehovah knows.”
Have you yet had a day made glad by the sense of the forgiveness of your sins?
ML 11/20/1904