What else is there to say?

Wednesday during our discussion on guilt, we continued with a hymn we are currently learning, "How Firm A Foundation." The first verse is:

"How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said?
To you who, for refuge, to Jesus have fled."

I found the words appropriate to our topic, particularly "What more can He say than to you He hath said?"

Often when wrestling with feelings of guilt (this is an activity I engage in often) I allow myself to be overwhelmed with a sense of guilt over something that wasn't my fault, was out of my control, or that has already been forgiven by Jesus. As the words to that hymn echoed through my living room, I realized: God has already said everything I need Him to say. In His Word I know He has loved me, forgiven me, and accepted me. He has borne my guilt for me. It's done. Enough said.

So I call for an end, in my own heart, to the wrestling matches with guilt. No more analyzing, agonizing, over-thinking and obsessing. What a waste of time and energy. He has already made His statement about my guilt. He needs not say any more. And I need not continue to question, especially since He has already answered.

In the kids corner: It was interesting to attempt to explain guilt to Levi (8) and Cameron (6). Some words we used to help them understand: "Sometimes we feel bad about something bad we've done. And sometimes we feel bad about something that's not our fault, but we feel like it's our fault anyway. How do you tell when a feeling of guilt is God trying to tell you He doesn't want you to continue to do a bad thing, and when it's just us feeling bad for something even though we can't help that thing or it really isn't our fault?" Again, we pointed to the hymn. Our foundation is laid in His excellent Word, which the boys enthusiastically knew was "the Bible!" So we talked about looking in the Bible to know if what we are doing is right or wrong, and we talked about not letting ourselves feel guilty for things that aren't our fault. We even talked a little about Hurricane Katrina and how we felt guilty to only lose part of our things when some of our neighbors lost all of theirs. We discussed how this type of guilt over something we couldn't help is not what God wants for us.

Levi had this story to tell: "It's like when you see someone fall down at school and it looks like they hurt themselves but you have to keep staying in line with your class and so you feel bad."
I'm still pondering on this one... That kid always makes me think.