Friday, January 21, 2011
God's Eraser
"For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You." —Psalm 86:5
From Genesis to Revelation, it is clear that we have a forgiving God. He described himself to Moses in this way: "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin . . . " (Exodus 34:6-7).
David wrote, "For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You" (Psalm 86:5).
Micah, reflecting on this great truth, said, "He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:19). If we ever reached the literal bottom of the ocean, which experts tell us is 36,000 feet below sea level, I don't think we would suddenly find all of those sins. Rather, it is a metaphor God used to say that He will put our sins far away from us when we turn from them and ask for His forgiveness.
And what better example do we have of God's forgiveness than Jesus hanging on the cross and praying for the very people who pounded the spikes through His hands and feet? God reassures us in 1 John 1:9 that "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." The only sin God will not forgive is the sin we will not confess.
Corrie ten Boom put it well when she said, "God has taken our sin. He has thrown it into the sea of forgetfulness, and he has posted a sign that says, ‘No fishing allowed.' "
We should not choose to remember what God has chosen to forget.
Copyright © 2011 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to www.harvest.org
and
Listen to Greg Laurie's daily broadcast on OnePlace.com.
Watch Greg Laurie's weekly television broadcast on LightSource.com.