Here Is What God Forgets

Preacher:
Date: May 31, 2021

Mention any date since 1980 to Jill Price, and she can tell you what happened to her on that day—”what time she got up, who[m] she met, what she did, what she ate. In effect, she is a human diary,” writes Barry Wigmore.[1]

Although Jill has as much trouble as I do memorizing a poem, she can tell you every recording she owns. The problem is that she can also remember ever stupid mistake she ever made as if it had just happened.

“My memory is too strong,” she says. “It’s like a running movie that never

stops. Most have called it a gift. But I call it a burden. I run my entire life through my head every day and it drives me crazy!”[2]

Can you imagine how painful it would be to remember the intricate details of everything you had ever done wrong? Every night when you crawled into bed, you’d be haunted with thoughts of harsh words you had spoken ten years ago—just as if you had said them today. Or with the way you had hurt someone whom you really loved.  It would be a nightmare.

Even though you and I don’t have Jill Price’s ability to remember, we do generally remember for a very long time what we’ve done wrong. In contrast to us, however, God’s memory works differently.  Yes, He is all-knowing.  But the Bible tells us that when He forgives our sins, at that point He chooses to forget them completely. God says, “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions…and remembers your sins no more” (Isaiah 43:25). He wipes our sins from His memory never to be brought against us for all eternity.

Are you living with a load of guilt because of what you’ve done in the past?  Have you asked God to forgive you?  If so, those sins are gone–forgotten by God. So, why don’t you let them go, too, and enjoy His gift of grace today.

[1] Barry Wigmore, “The woman who can’t forget ANYTHING,” May 8,2008.  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-564948/The-woman-forget-ANYTHING-Widow-ability–curse–perfectly-remember-single-day-life.html

[2] Ibid.