pause. . .

                                                     

Sometimes I launch into the new year, other times I limp. . .
I'm reading David's prayers of confession; for weeks I soak up Psalm 51, 32- it's good, so good.
 Many years ago I learned to sing Psalm 32.

When I kept silent about my sin my body wasted away. . .my vitality was drained away like the fever heat of summer.

Selah. . .Soul! do not hurry over this-when David's conscience was unclean before God, he suffered. . .and so do I.

I confessed my transgression to the Lord and he forgave the guilt of my sin.

Selah. . .so, I pause right there-breath in the psalmist's humble resolve, God's amazing response. . .

Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you. . .surely a flood of great waters will not reach him, You are my hiding place, You preserve me from trouble.

Selah. . . the psalmist encourages me, "when you struggle with sin, you too cry out to God, confess sin, He will surround you with loving kindness, with deliverance."

So-sometimes it's hard to pause. . .when I pause over truth, then I slow down, I stop talking.
And that's a very good discipline for me in the new year.