If this doesn’t make you really glad that your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, I don’t know what will.
“[Men] think because God does not speak to them by his loud judgments, therefore God does not know their sins … ‘They consider not in their heart that I remember all their wickedness’ (Hosea 7:2) … Every lie a sinner tells, every oath he swears, every drunken bout, God writes it down in his books of remembrance; and woe to him if the book is not crossed out with the blood of Christ! See the mercifulness of God to his children, who blots their sins out of his book of remembrance, and writes their good deeds in his book of remembrance: ‘I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions’ (Isaiah 43:25) … Oh, the heavenly indulgence and kindness of God to his people! He remembers everything but their sins.”
– Thomas Watson, “The Great Gain of Godliness”
You can read the whole thing here.
This is where I have a tremendously hard time, wrapping my mind around God’s mercy. Though everything in this world screams otherwise, I have to keep believing He’s a God full of justice, I cling to that with all of my heart. Yet, I constantly rack my brain, trying to understand how He can forgive some of the horrible atrocities people perpetrate on one another. I believe there are consequences, for example: A person may eventually repent from having sex outside of marriage, but perhaps they would have contracted a venereal disease as a consequence.
Being raised in a dysfunctional family, has made me especially aware of injustice. I witnessed and was subjected to abuse at a very early age. As a young child I longed for justice and it didn’t seem to be forthcoming, at least it didn’t to my childish mind.
I know God will forgive a repentant sinner and I know He has commanded me to forgive. However, I also don’t understand how God can blot out our sins and still repay a perpetrator for every ounce of pain they have caused. How do I use the word forgiveness with out (as my friend Christina has pointed out before) cheapening it?
This need for justice was placed in my heart by the Almighty and to deny, that I hunger and thirst for justice, would be a lie. The Bible tells me that God is not mocked, a man will reap what he sows and also that God has no favorites, that can get away with sin.
I keep trying to put the two together: mercy and justice, and the two don’t seem to compute a just answer.
Thanks for listening to my quandary,
Martha
I think you are raising a very good question. I’ve made great progress in this area but will admit that I’m still trying to theologically work through some stuff myself. Here is what I can say:
1. You are right. God did deposit a sense of justice in all of us. Some of the Psalms are cries and pleas to the only One who can make the crooked straight. Some examples are: Psalms 58:6 and Psalms 137.8b-9. Also, Revelation 6:10.
2. We will encounter unrepentant offenders in our lifetime. God has given us clear ways to deal with them. Romans 12:17-21 is the guide.
a. Don’t take revenge into your own hands. Vengeance belongs to God. He will repay.
b. To the extent possible show love. In other words, if you have the opportunity to do good and show love do it. This does not mean a return to an abusive situation.
c. You cannot forgive someone who has not repented. Forgiveness is absolutely conditional.
3. Remember that God is righteous and sovereign. He is just and true. We trust hat He will somehow, someway make it ALL right in the end.
4. Keeping my own sins in view in light of His holiness has helped subdue those burning embers when they start to flare up. In reality, none of us deserve His mercy and given that, I can trust Him to be far more righteous than I ever could.
Does this help?