Fighting for Forgiveness

Last week I wrote about the need to pursue forgiveness and to repent of bitterness. In my post I mentioned some scripture that I have been meditating on and it's application in actually forgiving others. This week I am going to share my little "epiphany" that I had and how it is helping me to fight for an attitude of forgiveness and as such against bitterness. This is by no means an extensive or exhaustive list of ways, but rather one little thing that I found is helping me in this area.

I was reading through the Psalms while meditating on forgiveness and the Lord brought me at the right moment to Psalm 32.

Psalm 32:1-11

A Psalm of David. A Maskil.

1 How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered!

2 How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit!

3 When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away Through my groaning all day long.

4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.

5 I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.

6 Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him.

7 You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.

9 Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, Otherwise they will not come near to you.

10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, But he who trusts in the LORD, lovingkindness shall surround him.

11 Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous ones; And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.

As I read I was convicted of people whom I was bitter toward. People whom had "hurt" me and I couldn't seem to let it go, though I had said that I forgave them. Like I said in the previous post, these people were believers. So I started to pray through scripture. Here's how my prayers went... "How blessed is ...(John Doe) whose transgression is forgiven. (John Doe's) sin is covered! How blessed is (John Doe) because the Lord does not impute his iniquity upon him." I then thought about the cross. I thought about how Jesus chose to die for their sins; if He can forgive them and has forgiven them, then so must I.

I continued by thinking on verses 3, 4, 5, and 6. I thought about how miserable it has been when I have been in sin and not repentant. I thought about how there are consequences for sin and they really are awful! This turned my mind to empathize with the person. This allowed me to pray for them to repent of their sin (if they haven't already) so that they can turn back to God to experience the blessings of forgiveness and fellowship with the Father or if the person had already repented, these verses reminded me of the danger of holding on to the other person's sin and living in bitterness. Bitterness is like cancer: it eats away at you. These verses are just as much a warning to me and cause me to pray for myself to be on guard against sin and be quick to turn to God.

Next I continue on with verses 7 through10. I am reminded that God is my deliverer. He has saved me from my sin. He has forgiven me of much. He is leading me lovingly and calling me to submissively follow Him and to live out that love to others. He is good and has good in store for me. He is trustworthy so no matter what has transpired to irk me or hurt me or affect me; God was there, is there and is still working it all together for good. So now I can have the reassurance that as I go out in forgiveness God is my strength and also my defender. Thus I can end my time thinking on verse 11. I am praising God that I am forgiven. I am in God's care. He is doing good in the other person's life and He is the God from whom and to whom all praise flows!

And so as I read I saw the need to memorize this Psalm so that I can more easily pray through the process of forgiveness and so that when Satan tempts me to be bitter, I can fight him with the word of God just like Jesus did and I can do it by the strength of the Holy Spirit! I can be ready at any moment so that I can take captive that unforgiving thought or seed of bitterness and kill it quickly with the gospel's message and the word of God.