Daily Devotional

“Forgive and forget”. Doesn’t God do this when we confess our sins and ask for His forgiveness? Jeremiah 31:34 finishes with “…for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Certainly this verse and Isaiah 43:25 are adequate support for the old adage “Forgive and Forget”. To this I would have to say “yes” and “no”. “Yes” because God does forgive sins. I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” But “no” to the idea that God forgets sins. Don’t worry, I wholeheartedly agree with the thought that sins forgiven by God are as good as forgotten. See the way others describe how God treats forgiven sins:

In Isaiah 38:17, Hezekiah’s praise to God includes, “…It is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.”

Micah 7:19, “He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their (our) sins into the depths of the sea.”

When God forgives, He doesn’t turn around and retrieve sins He’s cast behind His back. He doesn’t put on SCUBA gear, dive into the depths of the sea and bring our forgiven sins back up to us. When He forgives, He does not, nor will not, remember our sin. At least, in my understanding of Isaiah 43:25, He does not remember our forgiven sins as something to be held against us.

As for my “no” to the idea that God forgets sins, our Bible would look quite different if God forgot all the sins He ever forgave. Scripture has plenty of recorded sins of the saints. Not for us to think poorly of the saints, but for us to learn from them. As Samuel Levenson once said, “You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can't possibly live long enough to make them all yourself." Better yet, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16)

Also, not forgetting means God is never surprised by Satan when he comes accusing. As in Rev. 12:10, “…the accuser of our brethren… who accuses them before our God day and night”. I can just see it now, God answering each accusation with, “Yes, I know about that sin. I forgave that one too. See, here’s the invoice, stamped with big red letters in the blood of My Son Jesus, PAID IN FULL”.

So why is it when I wake in the middle of the night, I sometimes start grieving over past sins, sins I’ve already confessed? When haunted by old forgiven sins I wonder if I should confess again, as if the first time didn’t work? I’ve done that, confessed several times, but the grief tends to linger. No, instead I will recall Isaiah 43:25, and know that it’s not God who’s remembered these sins to ruin my sleep with. I will focus on the fact that it is Him, even He, who has wiped out my transgressions for His own sake, and He will not remember my sins. His forgiveness, His Glory, our blessing.

New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.