Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love,
for they are from of old.
Do not remember the sins of my youth
and my rebellious ways;
according to your love remember me,
for you, Lord, are good.
Psalm 25:6-7
Do you have some things in your past you wish you could forget – youthful indiscretions? Everyone does. Sin always has consequences, and learning from them is important. While we may not ever be able to forget our past, we can take comfort in knowing that God’s great love flows from His mercy and compassion.
Psalm 103 tells us God removes our sins from us as far as East is from West. The prophet Micah tells us He “cast all our sins into the depths of the sea”. Forgetfulness is a human characteristic. We forget many things, but then something triggers a memory and it all comes back to us. We feel the guilt and shame all over again. But, God does better than forgetting.
In His perfect character, once we’ve repented it’s as if our sin never existed. He doesn’t hold the memory of our sins against us, like we do to ourselves and each other. The waves of His mercy never cease to flow, washing over our us in what an old hymn writer called, “fathomless billows of love”. While we may not be able to perfectly forget our past, we can rest in knowing that in the Father’s mercy there’s no memory of our sin.
Grace and Peace,
+Pastor Brad
Prayer
Loving Father, thank you for not holding the memory of my sin against me. In your mercy help me to learn from my sin to live a life pleasing to you. Amen.
Image credit: http://baresouldaily.blogspot.com/2015/09/sea-of-forgetfulness.html
