November 24

Pardon and Forgiveness

He will not always accuse us, nor harbor His anger forever. — Ps 103:9 BSB

Sometimes God has to correct us, and He wouldn’t be a wise Father if He didn’t. His correction can be painful for those who truly love Him because we know how much we deserve it and how wrong it is to grieve Him. We understand what His correction means, and we bow before Him, sorry for making Him upset.

But what comfort we find in this: “He won’t correct us forever.” If we repent and turn to Him with hearts that are truly sorry, He will forgive us quickly. He doesn’t enjoy turning a frowning face toward the ones He loves with all His heart. His joy comes from making our joy complete.

Let’s seek His face. There’s no need to despair or even to feel discouraged. Let’s love the God who corrects us, and before long we will sing, “Your anger has turned away, and you comfort me.” Let those dark, gloomy thoughts leave! Let humble hopes and grateful memories fill our hearts instead. The One who forgave us long ago as a judge will forgive us again as a loving Father, and we will rejoice in His constant, unchanging love.