Volume 1 · Week 9 — God’s Forgiveness
Day 58 — As Far as the East Is from the West
Main verse
“As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”
— Psalm 103:12 (KJV)
Meditation
We sometimes ask God for forgiveness without managing to believe that our sin has truly been removed. We confess it, then take it back inwardly. We return again and again to the same memories, as though we had to keep punishing ourselves to prove our repentance sincere.
The psalmist uses an image beyond measure. East and west never finally meet. So when God forgives, he does not merely move our sins a little way off, ready to bring them back against us. He removes them.
Forgiveness does not mean that the event never happened. Memory may remain, and some consequences must still be faced. But a forgiven sin no longer has the right to determine our identity before God.
We sometimes confuse the work of conscience with the voice of condemnation. Conscience leads us toward truth, making amends, and change. Condemnation repeats that we are beyond repair and that no new future is open to us.
God can use the memory of a mistake to make us more humble and watchful. He does not use it to keep us down forever. Forgiveness lifts us up so that we can learn to live differently.
Receiving this forgiveness sometimes takes as much faith as asking for it. We must allow God to speak over us a word stronger than our own accusation.
Today, when the past returns, we can answer, “This wrongdoing has been acknowledged and entrusted to God. I now want to walk in the light of his forgiveness.”
Psalm
Psalm 103:8–14 (KJV)
8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. 9 He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. 10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. 11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. 12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. 13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. 14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
Further Bible reading
Isaiah 1:16–18; Micah 7:18–19; Romans 8:31–34
Suggested hymn
The Church Hymnal (1941), no. 278 — “I Lay My Sins on Jesus”
Prayer
God of compassion, I sometimes find it easier to believe in your power than to receive your forgiveness fully. When my old faults return to accuse me, remind me of your promise. Help me humbly accept responsibility for what must be put right, then walk freely in the grace you give me. Amen.
A thought to keep
What God has forgiven can teach me, but it must no longer condemn me.
Personal Notes
What would you like to remember, pray about, or put into practice today?