Prayer & Worship
Someone told me unconfessed sin blocks your prayers, and now I second guess myself before I speak. Is God actually refusing to listen to me?
“If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.”
This psalm is a public thanksgiving after a national rescue, and the line people quote about regarding iniquity in the heart is only the first half of a sentence. The psalmist immediately says that God has in fact heard him. He is drawing a line between cherishing something you have no intention of giving up and being an ordinary flawed person who prays. Those are not the same condition.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
John is writing against teachers who claimed to have moved beyond sin altogether. His answer is not to raise the entry requirements but to describe a simple ongoing arrangement: name it, and God is faithful and just to forgive. The verbs describe a habit rather than a single transaction. It is written to Christians who will need it repeatedly, which is most of the reassurance right there.
A path forward
Confess specifically at the start of prayer rather than scanning anxiously all the way through it. Name what you know of, ask for forgiveness, then move on to the rest of the conversation.
Ask honestly whether there is something you are unwilling to let go of. If there is, name it to a pastor or a trusted Christian friend this month. If there is not, stop hunting for it.
Read Psalm 139:23-24 and hand the searching over. Asking God to show you anything amiss is a far healthier practice than interrogating yourself before every prayer.
Closing verse
“I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.”
- Psalm 32:5
Coming Soon
Want to ask your own question?
Revealed is building a feature that lets you ask anything and receive a Bible-rooted response drawn from both Testaments. Join the waitlist to be first to know when it launches.