A Clean Record

One of the most wondrous aspects of God’s nature is that when He forgives, He does not partially forgive. He totally forgives. Micah stated this beautifully:

“Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:18–19, NIV)

Isn’t that beautiful? Everything that we have ever done wrong—everything that could ever make us feel guilty, every accusation that the enemy could ever bring against us—God treads underfoot and hurls into the depths of the sea.

Someone remarked once that when God casts your sins into the sea, He puts up a notice that says, “No Fishing!” Don’t ever try to go back and resurrect something that God has buried. If God has forgiven you, you are forgiven. There are no questions. God’s forgiveness is total. In Isaiah God speaks to His people, saying:

“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” (Isaiah 43:25)

When God forgives us, He blots out the record. It is clean. It is just as though that which was forgiven had never taken place. Not only does He blot out the record, but He blots it out from His own memory. He says that He will remember our sins no more.

God does not have a bad memory, but He does have the ability to forget. And when He forgives, He forgets!