When we are overwhelmed by sin it’s a feeling of being deeply burdened and weighed down.
David says in Psalm 65:3 “Sin overwhelmed me, but You atoned for our transgressions.” Psalm 65 gives glimpse of the enormous burden of sin, A person who has never been overwhelmed by his consciousness of sin will never understand forgiveness in a real sense.
A real understanding of what sin creates in us a sense of being overwhelmed. It has nothing to do with the number of sins we’ve committed.
Sin cuts open fresh wounds in the heart of God. God suffers from those wounds because He forgives His children. Knowing that His children are behaving in ways that sin against Himself, His laws, and His love creates pain in His heart. He forgives us to bring us back to Him, He forgives but that forgiveness is costly to God.
When we realize the sorrow in the heart of God over sin in us, we experience the overwhelming. When we see the repulsiveness of sin to God, then we are able to see the grieving heart of God.
We can experience true forgiveness when we can say to God that we too have begun to understand what it costs for God to forgive us.
Until we realize that we don’t know what forgiveness is, we will not understand what God’s love is.
God is full of mercy in His dealings with us. The moments when we come to know the utter repulsiveness of sin in our lives and feel overwhelmed by it will God take the initiative to forgive us. (Psalm 40:12).
We cannot earn forgiveness because it is a God-given gift. It is after forgiveness that we learn to love God much. He has forgiven us much.
From Pity to Praise 