Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Forgiveness
- Forgiveness: Forgiveness is when our sins are absolved by God. We do not deserve this forgiveness, but God grants it to us anyway. We cannot earn forgiveness, but God gives it to us anyway. As we are forgiven by God, He also asks us to forgive others. In fact, Jesus Himself teaches us to pray for our forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer when He says, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
The
opening stanza of this very short chapter is a profound statement upon the
forgiveness of God. “For though you were
angry with me, you turned your anger away that you might comfort me.” It isn’t just that God forgives, which He
graciously does. He forgives because He
desires to comfort us. God would rather
spend His time with us comforting us and transforming us than spend His time
burning against us in wrath.
Of
course, this doesn’t mean that God doesn’t give us wrath. It doesn’t mean that God can’t stay mad at
us. But if we are repentant of our sins,
God can absolutely forgive us. He desires
it, even.
It is
remarkable that God desires to comfort us.
Human nature wants justice. We
want people to get what they deserve. We
want people to meet up with the consequences of their actions. But not God.
God would prefer repentance so that He can let His anger go. God desires to let His anger go because He
would prefer to be a God of comfort.
That’s remarkable indeed.
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