Overcoming the Guilt of Sin

# 353 - Today's Du-votional comes from: 1Sa 25:30,31, “And it shall come to pass, when the LORD shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel; 31 That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid. (1 Sam 25:30,31) Abigail has stood in the gap in an attempt to prevent David from shedding blood without cause. She was hoping to spare David any future grief. The word grief here means staggering or stumbling and it's a very real phenomena! I have personally seen grief so powerful that the woman who was experiencing it literally could not stand as she was overwhelmed by guilt from a past abortion. The Holy Spirit, speaking through this biblical account of David, and Abigail is trying to show us the very real connection between overwhelming grief and the shedding of blood without cause. Further, Abigail wanted to spare offence to David's heart, the word means a writing. If David had gone through with this it would have been like etching this wrong forever on his heart. This is the reality of the post abortive man or woman. Priests for Life has a website dedicated to women who have had abortions, listen to some of what they had to say: “I couldn't look at any kids,” “Every time the vacuum cleaner was used, I thought about how my baby died,” “I've never known a feeling so bad,” “I still grieve and it's been over 10 years, “”I would shut down or cry,” “my life went downhill and stayed there for years,” “years later it came back to haunt me,” and perhaps the most poignant, “Abortion doesn't make the baby go away.”Thankfully, there is forgiveness for this sin through the innocent shed blood of Jesus. There is a way to deal with overwhelming guilt. Hear the plea of David as he was overwhelmed with guilt over his sin of murdering the innocent Uriah, “Ps 51:14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation,” and then, believe with David the truth of Psa 65:3 Sins overwhelmed me, But you atoned for our transgressions. “Father, help the post abortive to receive Your forgiveness, lift the weight of guilt from their souls, and use us to lovingly prevent others from experiencing the same kind of guilt and pain.“