This is an excerpt from the introduction of Stretched: A Study for Lent and the Entire Christian Life by Christopher Richmann (1517 Publishing, 2026).
We can bring our troubles, griefs, sorrows, and sins to Jesus, who meets us smack dab in the middle of our messy mob.
Confession isn’t a detour in the liturgy. It’s the doorway.

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If someone confesses their sins into my ears, I have no options but to forgive them in the name of Christ.
In many ways [this text] brings to mind Judgement Day and the separation of the sheep from the goats when Christ the King comes to take His treasured possession home to be with Him in the courts of everlasting life.
These last words of the Old Testament Scriptures prepare us for the incarnation and beyond.
David and Job both know that prayer puts a cigarette lighter to all prim and proper books of religious etiquette. It is honest. Heated. Emotional. Raw. And the psalms are packed with it.
Note Moses’ big question is, “Who am I?” However, this is the wrong question. It matters not who Moses is, or who we are. What matters is who God is.
We would be utterly miserable if we could not find somebody less than ourselves, somebody to look down on, somebody to make us more pleased with ourselves.
Even though the sins of the Israelites are great, like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. In spite of great transgression, there is even greater forgiveness.
God broke into the midst of our pain and allows us to bring our requests to him as those who are counted as “godly.”
It is incumbent upon the faithful preacher, looking to see sinners transformed into the image of Christ, to preach a naked gospel.
When we run deep into the darkness, Jesus runs deeper and deeper after us. Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more.
Throughout Scripture it is clear that the “keeper” is the LORD... It is the LORD who “keeps” His people and His creation. He is the creator and sustainer (keeper).
Jesus gave His disciples the Lord’s Prayer as a gift. It’s really our prayer when you think about it.