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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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