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The Amish Voice 3
commandment and always do right, I’ll
be blessed by God. Despair, because so
far I have not been able to keep the
commandment to my own satisfaction, let
alone God’s. It is as though the great
mountain of doing right and keeping the
commandment is always a steep climb
ahead of me, and I never see the top of
the mountain. I desperately want to do
what’s right and good. I want to please
God and want Him to be pleased with
me; yet it always remains just ahead of
me, just outside of my reach. It always
remains at the end of my promises to do
better, and I never reach it.
The preacher has now begun another
familiar passage of Scripture. The words
flow from his mouth in simple eloquence;
they are so familiar to him, he says them
without thinking:
Psalm 103:1
Ein Psalm Davids. Lobe
den HERRN, meine Seele, und was
in mir ist, seinen heiligen Namen!
2
Lobe den HERRN, meine Seele, und
vergiß nicht, was er dir Gutes getan
hat:
3
der dir alle deine Sünden vergibt und
heilet alle deine Gebrechen,
Interpreted in English:
Psalm 103:1
Bless the LORD, O my
soul: and all that is within me, bless
his holy name.
2
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and
forget not all his benefits:
3
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities;
who healeth all thy diseases;
The words of the Bible once again bring
a ray of comfort to my tormented soul.
Who forgives all your sins, and heals all
your sicknesses.
This sounds so much like
what I am looking for; it seems to match
so perfectly to that of which I stand in
need. I wonder what the conditions are to
qualify for this blessing of having one’s
sins forgiven. What gave the Psalmist the
confidence to say that God has forgiven
his sins? How did he know?
The words continue:
8
Barmherzig und gnädig ist der
HERR, geduldig und von großer
Güte.
9
Er wird nicht immer hadern noch
ewiglich Zorn halten.
10
Er handelt nicht mit uns nach
unsern Sünden und vergilt uns nicht
nach unsrer Missetat.
Interpreted in English:
8
The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, and plenteous in
mercy.
9
He will not always chide: neither
will he keep his anger for ever.
10
He hath not dealt with us after our
sins; nor rewarded us according to
our iniquities.
Merciful and gracious is the Lord;
patient, and of great goodness. He does
not deal with us after our sins, and does
not reward us according to our iniquities
.
I wonder if these words are for me, or if
they were written only for the rest of the
world. Did God even care enough about
me to know what sins I had that needed
to be forgiven? Even though I didn’t dare
believe the words, still they brought me
comfort and a sense of relief. It was
comforting to know that even though I
wasn’t sure how to make it happen, God
was willing to forgive and to show mercy
and goodness. It was a relief to hear from
a secure and authoritative source that
God was still open to receive me and
forgive my sins. I wondered how and
when it would happen. How would I
know when God has forgiven me? How
long would I have to wait?
11
Denn so hoch der Himmel über der
Erde ist, läßt er seine Gnade walten
über die, so ihn fürchten.
12
So ferne der Morgen ist vom Abend,
läßt er unsre Übertretungen von uns
sein.
13
Wie sich ein Vater über Kinder
erbarmt, so erbarmt sich der HERR
über die, so ihn fürchten.
Interpreted in English:
11
For as the heaven is high above the
earth, so great is his mercy toward
them that fear him.
12
As far as the east is from the west,
so far hath he removed our
transgressions from us.
13
Like as a father pitieth his children,
so the LORD pitieth them that fear
him.
Once again, the words are powerful and
sound wonderful, but I don’t dare believe
them. I have no trouble believing that
God forgives sins and removes them
from people, but I can’t believe He did it
for me. Sure, I believe God
can
do it, but
I just take it to mean that God is able to if
He wants to and if the right conditions
are met. I feel like I will never arrive at
the place where I fear God enough for
Him to show mercy and grace to me.
The first preacher, after preaching for a
while, sits down. After a portion of
Scripture is read by the
deacon, the bishop rises to
preach the main sermon.
After reciting the same
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