Hold Me Innocent

My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away; they see no good. They go by like skiffs of reed, like an eagle swooping on the prey. If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and be of good cheer,’ I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know you will not hold me innocent.
Job 9:25-28
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Hold Me Innocent
We do not like the fact that we are not perfect.  We don’t like to make mistakes and when we do it is often difficult for us to admit.  We want to present ourselves as perfect and blameless to the world.  But we know we are not, so we want the next best thing. We want to be seen as innocent.  We know we are guilty, but we hope that there is some legal loophole we can find to be declared not guilty.  Job understands this.  Therefore, he complains God will not hold him innocent.  Job does not say sinless, for he knows he is a sinner, yet he still wants an innocent verdict.  And this is what we too often do.  We commit the offense but don’t want to pay the price.  We want a slick lawyer to get us off on a technicality.  But when it comes to our sin and the punishment for it, there is no getting around it.  There is no loophole.  The wages of sin is death, and all must pay.  Yet in God infinite mercy He makes it possible for the debt to be paid and for us to be fond not guilty.  Christ takes the punishment meant for us.  In His death our sins are atoned for.  And in our place God delivers His righteous justice.  And by grace, we are given the faith to believe in the promise that our sins have been wiped clean, and we are in fact innocent before God, not on our own account, but solely on account of Christ and Him crucified.