When they return

"When they sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin), and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive to a land far or near; yet when they come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong, and have committed wickedness'; and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been carried captive, and pray toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and toward the temple which I have built for Your name: then hear from heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You. – 2 Chronicles 6v36-39

So there is no one who does not sin. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no not one. The wages of sin is death.

That would be some kind of terrible news if that is where it stopped. Everyone one sins and sin condemns every one. Where does that leave us? Is there any hope?

There is hope indeed. Solomon’s prayer did not stop there. ‘When the people come to their senses, repent, and confess and forsake their sin. Hear from heaven and maintain their cause.’

The great truth is that even though there is no one who does not sin, God does not cast us off forever. Solomon knew nothing about the free gift of salvation in Christ, but He knew about the truth that God makes provision for forgiveness when we turn and repent.

The wages of sin is death…BUT the gift of God is eternal like through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Praise the Lord that there is room after ‘when they sin’ for ‘when they repent.’