What is there to confess and why is God interested in our confession?

Lately, I have done some soul searching and dug up certain issues that have been sitting on the shelf gathering dust and cobwebs. These issues have not been properly addressed because I did not know how to voice them. When I finally sat down and wrote them into my journal it took me a long time to find the words. However, once I assessed the wrong of the situation and analyzed my involvement in it, something magical happened: By acknowledging my bad choices I have gained a better understanding of myself. All of a sudden I could see why I did what I did; and by exposing the root cause of the problem the likelihood of repeating those bad choices was clearly diminished. I could finally let go of this portion of my past.

Not finding peace has a lot to do with hiding from ourselves. We may think that we can lie to ourselves, but in the end every lie is an illusion and will be exposed eventually.

Buried deep within us we do know the truth. Bad memories we suppress will somehow resurface. And as controlling as we think we are, resurfacing memories are definitely out of our control. They flood our dreams at night and initiate emotional outbursts – which will come across inappropriate, because people cannot read our memory banks and understand why we are so upset. Unaddressed issues can become ugly leading to physical abuse, suicidal tendencies, mental illness and /or any other kind of ailment. To spare us this nightmare, God asks us to confess.

Confessing is a blessing.

Remember how Jesus addressed His followers after He rose from the grave? He said (Luke 24:36):

“Peace be with you.”

Confession leads to peace. We accept what happened, give ourselves room to grieve, rise out of the ashes and move on, while the Son of God speaks peace over us.