Forgive Me, Lord - Part 4
When we ask God for forgiveness, we are telling Him that we want to be made right with Him again; that we were wrong and we are sorry.
Forgive Me, Lord - Part 4
In Psalms 51, when David cried out to God for forgiveness, he asked God to turn away from his sin. But, then, he went a step further. He asked God to “blot it out.” He already asked for forgiveness, so why does he take that next step? Is blotting out sin different than forgiving it?
When we ask God for forgiveness, we are telling Him that we want to be made right with Him again; that we were wrong and we are sorry. He forgives our sin and our relationship with Him is restored. Blotting out our sin is something altogether different. Just because our relationship with God is repaired, doesn’t mean we don’t still have the desire to sin. That has to be dealt with and it must be removed. That can only happen through the blood of Jesus Christ.
The Hebrew word for blotting out something is “Machah.” It means to obliterate or to annihilate. When Isaiah used that word, (Isaiah 43:25 & 44:22), he was describing something that was being “wiped away”. It was no longer there.
That’s telling us about restoration and reconciliation from God’s point of view. In effect, Jesus erases our sin so that it no longer exists. It is gone. That’s what allows us to have a relationship with God!
Acts 3:19
“Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”
God is serious about our sin and He gave up His Son in order to obliterate our sin forever. Hebrews tells us that He “remembers our sins no more!”
Colossians 2:13-14
When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
Is there anything greater than knowing that God can change who I am by forgetting about who I was and what I did? That is why I love Him and I will never turn away.
