“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.” Isaiah 43:25
It’s been called the greatest enemy of the spiritual life.[1] What is it? Self-rejection—the relentless voice telling you that your present is punishment for your past.
The belief that our actions eventually return to us isn’t new. Some Eastern religions teach that present or future suffering results from things done in the past. Some people in the Bible thought that too. When a man named Job lost his health, wealth and children, one of his friends told him “… those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it” (Job 4:8 NIV).
We too can be weighed down by shame, convinced that hardship is payback for our past. As one Bible teacher put it: “One of the worst parts of being a religious person with a dark past [is the] temptation to view persistent hardship as punishment. [It] is almost too much to resist”.[2]
But the Gospel stands in stark contrast to that belief. When Jesus and His disciples encountered a man blind from birth, Jesus explained that his blindness was not caused by his sin or his parents’ sin (John 9:1-3).
The God of the Bible forgives, forgets and gives new life. He declares, “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more” (Isaiah 43:25). Today, God says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!” (Isaiah 43:18-19a NIV).
In life, our actions do have natural consequences. But God says the troubles you’re facing aren’t His punishments for your past sins. Regardless of whatever you’re facing today, God is with you, and He’s doing a brand new work in you.
[1] Henri J. M. Nouwen, Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World (New York: Crossroad, 1992), 28.
[2] Beth Moore, All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale Momentum, 2023), 234.
