“I acknowledge my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me.”
—Psalm li. 1-12.

IN that is unconfessed shuts out the energies of grace. Confession makes the soul receptive of the bountiful waters of life. We open the door to God as soon as we name our sin. Guilt that is penitently confessed is already in the “consuming fire” of God’s love. When I “acknowledge my sin” I begin to enter into the knowledge of “pardon, joy, and peace.” But if I hide my sin I also hide myself from “the unsearchable riches of Christ.” “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

I must then make confession of sin in my daily exercises in the presence of the Lord. I am taking the way to recovered victory when I tell the Lord the story of my defeat. Satan strengthens his awful chains when he can induce me to keep silence concerning my sin. All his plans are thrown into confusion as soon as I “pour out my soul before the Lord.” When I fall let me not add to my guilt the further sin of secrecy. Unconfessed sin breeds in its lurking-place and multiplies its hateful offspring. The soul that makes confession is washed through and through, and the seeds of iniquity are driven out of my soul.