Verse of the Day for September 5

David could have said as far as the north is from the south. He did not. North and south have ends; you can stand at a pole. East and west never meet. Keep walking east and you will never arrive at a point where it turns into west.

That is the distance he means. so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Not a long way. An unmeasurable way.

But the passage does not stay up in the sky. Verse 13 comes down into a house. Like as a father pitieth his children. Pity here is not looking down on someone. It is the ache a parent feels watching a child struggle with something too heavy for small arms.

Ordinary days are where we most need both pictures. On a Tuesday nothing dramatic happens. You simply remember the sharp thing you said on Sunday, or the old failure you thought was buried. It comes back while you are ironing a shirt.

When it comes back, picture the horizon, then picture a father bending over a tired child. Both are true of how God has handled your sin. You do not need to walk east to fetch it back.

A forgiven sin is not waiting somewhere to be collected.

God looks at your weakness the way a good father looks at a tired child.