Word for Wednesday
For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. Hebrews 8:12
Harry knew there would not be much money from the crops that year, so he determined to limit the amount of purchases that he would put on account at the general store in the village. He became alarmed when Martha went to the store and ordered material to make new curtains for the living room, putting the purchase on Harry’s account. So he went to the store and told the owner not to allow Martha to charge anything more, and to cancel Martha’s curtain order. When she found out, Martha was furious! After verbally lashing him about it, she sent Harry immediately to the store to lift the ban. And she didn’t let it drop, either. For many years, even until Harry died, and even at the wake, she embarrassed him before family, friends, and strangers as she told the story to anybody who would listen. Harry paid a steep price for his mistake, because Martha remembered it and retold it over and over. Truth be told, there are many Harrys among us, and far too many Marthas with far too clear memories of Harry’s mistakes. You and I have made far greater mistakes, let’s call them the sins that they are, but God chooses to remove them from His memory. What a relief.
Our text speaks of mercy. And it is a mercy that God will not be forever dragging up our past and reminding us of the worst that we have done. God could do that, because He knows everything that we have ever said, done, or thought. In fact, that will be one of the great torments of hell, as the damned are constantly reminded of their sins and the mistakes as the reason for their being there. Yes, it is a mercy now that God does not confront us with our wrongs, and will never do so throughout eternity. He has forgiven us, and His forgiveness includes letting all of those things drop. Permanently. If God could do that for us, why can’t we do it for those who have wronged us?
I am sure you have heard people say, ‘I’ll forgive you but I won’t forget what you did’. That’s not forgiveness, not the way God forgives, and not the way that we should forgive if we are to be like our Lord. It’s natural to hold a grudge, even though a grudge is the heaviest load that anyone can carry. But we have more than natural life; we have spiritual life. And the Spirit is willing to help us to be as forgiving as He is toward those who have wronged us.
Some have called it God’s forgetfulness. God doesn’t remember our sins against Him, and we don’t remember others’ sins against us. – Jim MacIntosh