“…and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

Matthew 6:12.

He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.

Psalm 103:9-14.

When I was in the Philippines helping with some pastoral training, I had one pastor suggest that if we do not live up to God’s expectation we can lose our salvation. While that is not my theological bent, I understand there are those who think otherwise. I did ask him however, if he was a dad. He talked for a few minutes about his family and his kids. I asked them if they ever messed up and did something wrong. He acknowledged they were far from perfect and while they had not committed any horrible crime, they had tested his patience on a number of occasions. I asked him why he did not kick them out of the house and disowned them as family members. He was a bit shocked that I suggested such a thing and said he would never do that because they were family, which made my point exactly; more precisely, it makes the point of Psalm 103.

Psalm 103 tells us that God does not deal with us according to our sins. He does not give us what we deserve because of our sin and transgressions. What we deserve from a holy God is instant retribution, but He is compassionate and steadfast in His love, so we receive something different.

Psalm 103 is a powerful statement about the character of God. He is steadfast in His love toward those who fear Him. He is steadfast to those who have the standing of being called His children. He is steadfast as a Father’s love even when we have sinned or committed transgressions, even when His children have not been faithful to Him. He is our heavenly Father who forgives and removes our disobedience. Such a powerful statement about the nature of our relationship with Him.

The text tells us, “God removes our transgression from us, “as far as the east is from the west.” He removes our sin from us, not Himself. In other words, He forgives or pardons us and removes them from us as an expression of saying He does not keep on attaching those failures to us moving forward. The sovereign God of the universe knows all things, possible and probable. He knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:9-10). Therefore it seems unlikely He will “forget” our sins and transgression.

The statement tells us that He will not drag these sins and transgression back up and keep throwing them in our face to keep reminding us of our failure. In this sense He “forgets” not because He has a poor memory, but He no longer sees us a guilty. He “does remember” that we are dust, frail, broken human beings who have been damaged by sin and evil, and He always “remembers” we are His children.

But God will not forgive if we do not forgive others. In this sense He will keep on remembering our sin if we refuse to forgive others. He cannot permit His children to hold on to unforgiveness when He has forgiven us. In this sense He will keep on remembering until we submit to Him and forgive others.

In His grace,

Brad Little