God's Bad Memory

“I, [even] I, [am] he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” (Isa 43:25 AV)

It is common for the saints to dredge up sins of the past when adversity seems to overwhelm.  Our minds and spirits are tormented by choices we wish never occurred.  We confess and forsake all over again is if the first time did not count.  We recant any and all failures regardless of past forgiveness.  We are tormented by the thought that the LORD hangs our sins over our heads as a way to manipulate or remind us of just how wicked we are.  This is a lie from Satan!  If God has forgiven, He has forgotten.  This doesn’t mean consequences are not forthcoming.  There are consequences for our choices that God built into His creation.  There are natural things that will occur unless the LORD supernaturally intervenes.  Just because God must send circumstances does not mean He is still ruminating over our sin.  It is our desire to punish ourselves or a Satanic influence that keeps us in a constant state of defeat.  God doesn’t remember it.  Why should we?

I cannot begin to tell you of all the patients I have visited who lived with regret.  There was the lady who was dying of emphysema who was estranged from her daughter.  They had a falling out, and at the time of her passing, there was no reconciliation.  There was the man who was told his heart was failing, and he had only a few months.  He cheated on his wife decades ago and was still tormented by it.  There was the man who was awaiting a quadruple amputation because he never took care of himself.  There were several service members who lived with survival’s guilt.  One in particular was a captain of bomber during WWII, and the two times he was out for medical reasons, his plane went down.  He was the sole survivor of two different crews.  There was the man whom I worked with who was an veteran.  He was forward-stationed, performing advanced scouting for his unit.  He had to take the life of a non-combatant so that he and his unit were not discovered.  We all live with regrets.  It is part of our nature.  We cannot seem to let go of those things we have done or failed to do.  Passing away in peace is a struggle.  But it all hinges on our faith of God’s permanent forgiveness.

We must separate consequences for choices from the remembrance of sin.  God did not intend our consequences to torment us by guilt over what we have done or failed to do.  When the memory of wickedness comes upon us, we need to resist the Devil so he will flee from us.  If the LORD refuses to remember the deeds that precipitated our circumstances, then we should learn to forget it, too.  We can remember what we have done.  The ‘why’ for our circumstances makes that necessary.  But what we are not required to do is ruminate on the nature of our choices, the guilt and regret that comes from it, nor the fear that somehow God will never let us off the hook.  If God does not remember our sin, then once forgiven and forsaken, neither should we.