This hymn, written in 1773 by William Cowper, is a cry of hope in Christ to the depressed, oppressed, down trodden and dejected.  It speaks to me today, to take courage and strength in the Lord even though I am grieved by my sin and this world that is so lost in sin.  I know that God is still saving people from their sin but it is getting harder and harder for people to be saved because people today want to believe in a Jesus who will give them eternal life without meddling with their personal life … however this Jesus doesn’t exist.

Once a person is born again and saved from the “penalty of sin” (saved from Spiritual death and eternal separation from God), Jesus continues to work in that person’s life to save the person from the “power of sin” (putting to death the old sin nature that remains in the believer – die2live).   Ultimately, when the believer dies or is raptured to heaven he will be removed from the “presence of sin”, to live eternally in a state of peace and glory in Jesus Christ.  But for now, the born again nature of Christ is in opposition to the old sin nature which still exists in the believer and therefore there is a battle within the soul of the believer.  When the believer chooses to deny self and live for Christ he has peace with God but when he chooses to follow the old sin nature and/or follow the way of the world, the Holy Spirit, which lives in the believer, will convict the believer of his sin.  The conviction causes a feeling of guilt, emptiness and fear in the believer, a temporary loss of fellowship with God (but not separation from God, a born again believer can never be separated from God – Romans 8:28-29).

This conviction from the Holy Spirit is meant to remind the believer that he is grieving God and quenching God’s Spirit within the believer, which is causing the believer to miss out on the blessings of his new life in Christ and the main blessing is to become more like Jesus!  This conviction of sin in the believer’s life is discipline from a loving Father, who is leading his child away from self and sin, back into fellowship in the family of God.  This is the message of 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  When a believer confesses his sin he is restored back into fellowship with God and receives the blessings from God.

For example, the sin of unforgiveness may be the most lethal killing agent on the planet.  As Linda White once said “unforgiveness is a poison you make and drink hoping someone else will die”.  If the believer does not confess and repent of his sin, the believer will be out of fellowship with God and come under God’s discipline, in which case the believer will be extremely miserable and if the sin is left unconfessed for a long period of time the believer will become mentally and/or physically ill and if still the sin is not confessed the sickness will lead to a premature death, which is the ultimate discipline of God for the believer.  Note, not all sickness and death in the life of a believer is due to unconfessed sin – see this article for a deeper explanation, (judgement-vs-discipline).

Frankly, on the topic of prayer and forgiveness of sin, God only hears the prayers of believers because He only hears the prayers through His Son Jesus Christ.  You must first become a born again child of God in Jesus Christ before Jesus will hear your prayers and intercede to the Father for an answer to your prayers.  And if you are a believer in order for Jesus to hear your prayers you must “first” confess you sin to God and confess any unforgiveness you have for anyone else.  A good way to remember how to approach God in prayer is ACTS.

A – acknowledge who God is – the Holy, Perfect, One in charge of everything!

C – confess your sin and acknowledge who you are, a child of God in need of His grace

T – thanksgiving is the attitude because you have access to God

S – supplication is your request for yourself and others, trusting God’s to work His best!

It is therefore impossible for a born again believer to say with a clear conscience that God approves of sin or doesn’t care about my unforgiveness toward others.  It is illogical, blasphemous and defies the purpose of salvation that is found in Christ.  Therefore, a “Christian” who compromises with sin and does not believe in repentance from sin is in serious danger of never having established a born again relationship with Jesus Christ in the first place.  Furthermore, because this twisted and perverse thinking concerning sin is infecting His church, God is coming soon to “rapture” His born again children to heaven and then rain down from heaven His wrath upon the world.

Ephesians 4:17-32  17So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; 19and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. 20But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

      25Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another. 26BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27and do not give the devil an opportunity. 28He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. 29Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. 30Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

William Cowper  Born: No­vem­ber 15, 1731, Great Berk­hamp­stead, Hert­ford­shire, Eng­land.

Died: Ap­ril 25, 1800, East Dere­ham, Nor­folk, Eng­land.

Buried: East Dere­ham, Nor­folk, Eng­land. Cowper’s friend and hymn writ­ing part­ner John Newton con­duct­ed the fun­er­al ser­vice.

Cow­per oft­en strug­gled with de­press­ion and doubt.  One night he de­cid­ed to com­mit su­i­cide by drown­ing him­self.  He called a cab and told the driv­er to take him to the Thames Riv­er. How­ev­er, thick fog came down and pre­vent­ed them from find­ing the riv­er (ano­ther ver­sion of the story has the driv­er get­ting lost de­liber­ate­ly).  After driv­ing around lost for a while, the cab­by fin­al­ly stopped and let Cow­per out. To Cowper’s sur­prise, he found him­self on his own door­step:  God had sent the fog to keep him from kill­ing him­self.  Even in our black­est mo­ments, God watch­es over us.

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