WHY CAN’T I FORGET

Posted on Feb 24, 2021 in Forgiven- A Daily Devotion | Tags: , , , , ,

By Esther Hernandez
 
Genesis chapters 37-47 tell the story of Joseph, Jacob’s 11th son.  Joseph was favored by his father Jacob and his brothers were jealous.  They mistreated him, talked about him, hated and rejected him.  They even sold him to a caravan of Midianite merchants going by in the field where they were.  Joseph landed up in Egypt.  But Joseph trusted God even in the strange land where he was.  In Genesis 41:51 he named his first son, Manasseh, because God helped him forget all his trouble and all his father’s household.

Sometimes we can’t forget because we don’t fully accept or receive all that God has done for us in bringing us back to Himself.  Isaiah 64:6 says all our righteous acts everything good we’ve done are like filthy rags.  We forget what God has done for us in giving us life, redemption and forgiveness of sin – past, present and future.

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:  While we were still sinners Christ died for us.” Romans 5:6-8

 We forget all that Jesus went through to bring us back to the Father – His life, sufferings, rejection, death and resurrection.  He not only forgives our sins, paid the penalty for them, but He doesn’t remember them anymore.  He said as far as the east is from the west He remembers them no more.

 “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:11-12

 “. . . he . . . blots out your transgressions, for his own sake and remembers your sins no more.”   Isaiah 43:25
 
Instead of allowing Satan to keep tormenting our minds with thoughts of the wrongs others have done to us, we should be casting down our imaginations and bringing our every thought to the obedience of Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 10:5).  His desire was to please God in obedience.  We should be filling our thoughts with what He’s done for us, what He’s doing for us, the home He’s prepared for us, His blessings and gifts.  We should be seeking Him for how He might use us in His kingdom here on earth.  Right now.  Our thoughts should be meditating on things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, if there is any virtue, anything praiseworthy – these are what we should be thinking of. (Philippians 4:6-8)

We live lives of defeat because we don’t forgive and forget.  We keep a record of the wrong others have done to us.  I Corinthians 13:4-8 says “.  .  . it [love] keeps no record of wrongs . . . Love never fails.”

Sometimes God allows us to remember the hurts of the past, not to keep a record of what others have done to us, or to slander those who have hurt us, but to help others going through similar situations.  We encourage them with the words and ways God helped us to overcome.  Remember what Joseph said, “God helped me forget.”  We can’t do it alone.  We need God.

We’re supposed to be Christ-like.  If He doesn’t remember all the times we’ve wronged others and Him by rejecting Him, being disobedient and hurling insults and profanity at Him, as Christians we should do the same.  Forgive and forget.  We won’t be able to forget if we don’t forgive.

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time.  Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.”  I Peter 5:6-7