FORGIVE ME, LORD

 FORGIVE ME, LORD

There comes a moment
when the soul grows tired
of defending itself.

Excuses fall away.
Pride loses its voice.

The heart that once hid among the trees
steps into the light
with empty hands.

Only one prayer remains—
Forgive me, Lord.

Not because God has forgotten us,
but because we have finally remembered Him.

The cross has never stood
as a monument to condemnation.

It stands as the doorway
through which mercy walks toward the world.

Before our tears begin to fall,
grace has already drawn near.

Before our confession is spoken,
love has already opened its arms.

For God has never waited
to discover our failures.
He has waited
for us to discover His mercy.

Repentance is not the road
by which we persuade God to forgive.
It is the road
by which we awaken
to the forgiveness
that has been waiting for us all along.

How strange the Kingdom of Heaven is.

The Judge runs toward the guilty.
The Shepherd searches for the lost.
The Father watches the horizon,
not to count our failures,
but to celebrate our return.

And the cross—
that lonely tree upon the hill—
becomes the place
where shame surrenders,
where guilt releases its chains,
where tears become living water,
and where broken hearts
learn the language of hope again.

Perhaps the greatest miracle
is not that sinners
find their way back to God.

It is that God
never ceased walking toward them.

So when the weary soul whispers,
"Forgive me, Lord,"
heaven does not hear
the voice of defeat.

It hears
the first song
of a heart
coming home.

Steven G. Lee
July 13, 2026