Celebrate His forgetfulness

"but Your love ⌊has delivered⌋ me from the Pit of destruction, 

for You have thrown all my sins behind Your back." 

Isaiah 38:17 (HCSB)

I hate it when I forget things.  I forget people's names.  I forget appointments.  Sometimes I forget promises or commitments.  Forgetting really irritates me.

But in the Christ followers life there is one time that we celebrate forgetfulness.  It's not ours but God's.  God intentionally forgets our sin.  He throws it behind His back.  When God forgives us, He doesn't want to be reminded of our sins of the past.  The truth is He doesn't want us to remember them either.  Don't carry around the guilt of past sin because it is forgiven.  God is not keeping a list so we should not either.

He has delivered.  He has forgiven.  He has forgotten!  Celebrate His forgetfulness!

How far?

As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. 

Psalm 103:12 (HCSB) 

God's grace for us is amazing.  His willingness to forgive us is beyond our comprehension.  This little verse from the Psalms is a wonderful reminder of how far God removes our sin from us.  While we sometimes remember the sins of our past, God has removed them from us.  Never to come back to us. 

 How far is the east from the west?  The two never shall meet.  Our sin will never be placed on our back again.  Jesus has taken our sin and He has removed them.

Now the point for us today is this:  If He has removed our sin and He intends never for us to have to deal with it again.  Then we need to leave our guilt and the sin itself alone.  Don't pick it up again!  Stop feeling guilt for what God has already forgiven and dealt with.

Forgiveness

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 
1 John 1:9 (KJV)

God loves us so much that he offers us forgiveness.  It is part of His plan of grace for us as followers of Christ.  When we sin forgiveness is available.  You are never to far or to deep into your sin that Christ can not bring you out.  Our step is to confess.  We acknowledge to God that we understand what He says about our sin.  Confession means to agree with His assessment of us.  It should always be followed by repentance.

But the most amazing truth we find in this verse is not about us but about Him.  He is faithful.  He is just.  He will cleanse us from all of our unrighteousness.  It is in God's nature that no matter how far we have fallen or drifted from Him, He will always forgive when we confess our sins to Him.  As Christ followers we continue to struggle with sin, but He is faithful and will forgive.

What we need: To be made Pure

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

Psalms 51:10 (NASB95)

 What do you need?  Spiritually, what do you need?  We often think of revival as something we do maybe once a year or so.  But revival is really a spiritual renewal that needs to be happening regularly.  For King David it did.  Particularly here in Psalm 51.  He has just come off of the whole Bathsheba incident.  He has committed adultery, murder and cover up.  He has been confronted by the prophet and He needs spiritual renewal.

God is so good that He does not abandon us after we have abandoned Him.  David asks, "God create in me a clean heart."  He asks for purity. 

Here is a challenge for us today.  Perhaps we need to go to God confess our sins and ask Him for purity.  Ask Him to clean our heart. 

Grace

Grace is good. Consider its implication in our day to day living.

Breaking away from Guilt

How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered! 2 How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit!
     3 When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away
Through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah . 5 I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I did not hide;
I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD";
And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah. 6 Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found;
Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him. 7 You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble;
You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.
     8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go;
I will counsel you with My eye upon you. 9 Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding,
Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check,
Otherwise they will not come near to you.

Psalms 32:1-9 (NASB95)

Guilt is not necessarily a bad thing.  Like pain is serves us a warning system that something is wrong.  But if we hold on to it, Satan can use it to hinder us and render us useless in Kingdom work.  Psalm 32 gives us some help in breaking away from guilt.

First, we must understand and accept forgiveness.  (Vs. 1-2)  God forgives.  That is really great news!  So don't roll around in your guilt but enjoy and appreciate God's forgiveness.

Second, we must understand and accept conviction.  (Vs. 3-6)  Conviction can be painful and none of us really like it.  But accept it because it is evidence of God's great love for us.  He loves us so much He will not leave us in our sin but brings conviction to draw us back to Him.

Finally understand and accept your security.  (Vs. 7-9)  God is our refuge.  He loves us so much.  We beat ourselves up about our sin.  We should take our sin seriously.  There is an appropriate time for grieving over our sin.  But there is also a time to acknowledge the sin and move on, knowing that God still loves you and is with you and wants to use you.  It is good to rest secure in the love of our savior.

Don't camp in the valley of guilt.  Go through it and come out into the pasture of His love, mercy and grace.

Who do you trust?

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired man, since he is not the shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep, leaves them and runs away when he sees a wolf coming.

John 10:11-12 (HCSB)

Here is an important truth for every Christ follower. You must understand this and even count on it. People will let you down. I meet so many people who reject Christ, or drop out of Church or are very sarcastic towards Christ followers because they have been hurt or disappointed by others.

Jesus reminds us that He is the good shepherd and He lays down His life for His sheep, but others will let you down. I have told our church family, that at some point I will let you down because I am Human and sinful just like everyone else.

The lesson here is two fold. Don't allow yourself to become disgruntled with God's people because they aren't God. Second, deal with others with grace and mercy. We all need some forgiveness from time to time.