“Well! Forgive him! You must be kidding! You have no idea what he did to me!” How many times have we heard these words or some just like them? Taking offense is very easy; forgiveness is very difficult. For the next month, we are going to look at how God views forgiveness, what He has to say about it in His Word and how we can find satisfactory ways of forgiving.
Strict speaking, if God hadn’t acted in forgiveness over and over, none of us would be here! God created man and gave him a beautiful and fruitful place to live, but there were restrictions. “Then the LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it. And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.” Genesis 2:15-17
We could all ask questions. Why did God put both those trees in that garden if He didn’t want man to eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil? Was this a set – up? God did not create puppets; He created people with free will who could therefore make choices. And we know the story. Adam and Eve proceeded to eat the forbidden fruit and suffer the consequences. Adam and Eve were driven out of paradise.
“Humph!” you say. “This doesn’t sound like forgiveness to me!” Well, consider the alternative: God couldn’t allow Adam and Eve to remain there and to possibly eat the fruit of the tree of eternal life and live forever in rebellion. Rather than vaporizing Adam and Eve, God made provisions for them and allowed them to start over. Ever since the Garden of Eden, God has been giving people second chances.
Unfortunately, people rebelled and many of them became very wicked, so wicked that God felt it necessary to put people to the test. “This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.” Genesis 6:9
God told Noah to do something that sounded absolutely outrageous! Noah was sitting in a land – locked country, but God told Noah to begin building a huge boat that would accommodate all kinds of animals. Building the ark took nearly 100 years, during which time you can bet the neighbors were having all kinds of fun at Noah’s expense.
“Crazy Noah! He’s some kind of religious nut! How can there possibly be a flood that will wipe out everything and everybody!” All the time Noah was making arrangements, the neighbors were continuing to jeer. If there had been zoning ordinances in those days, they would have tried to get Noah shut down. But Noah was not crazy and the flood came. Noah and his family and selected animals were safe in the ark and survived the floods.
Were Noah and his family perfect? No. They were ordinary people who worshiped God. And God forgave their sins and saved them.
“Then Noah built an altar to the LORD. And taking from every kind of clean animal and clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar. When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, He said in His heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from his youth. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done. As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall never cease.” Genesis 8:20-22
“Then God said to Noah and his sons with him, “Behold, I now establish My covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth—every living thing that came out of the ark. And I establish My covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between Me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set My rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.
Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember My covenant between Me and you and all living creatures: Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. And whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of every kind that is on the earth.” Genesis 9:8 – 16 God made an everlasting covenant, not only with men but even with every living creature of every kind on the earth.
“Ha!” you say, “you are just retelling fairy tales!” Not really. The flood is a well – documented happening, not only in the Bible but also in non – Biblical sources as well. And there have been many documented accounts of the Ark actually having been seen on Mount Ararat in Armenia. The point is this: If God as the holy and all – powerful Creator of the Universe can forgive, so can we. We will continue to look at God as the Ultimate Forgiver.
PRAYER: Lord, we are battered and bruised! We are weary and heart – sick at insults and slights. Help us to learn how to forgive as you have forgiven us. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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