When it comes to God’s divine work of forgiveness, the Bible makes one thing clear: forgiveness changes things.
Forgiveness changed Joseph’s brothers, it changed the sinful woman who wiped Jesus’ feet with her tears, and it changed Nicodemus.
Forgiveness is powerful. It doesn’t matter how impossible it might seem, when God is at work, forgiveness is possible.
Have years of neglect and misunderstanding dried up the love in your marriage? God’s forgiveness can make a huge splash.
Are you a victim of abuse? God’s forgiveness for your abuser—and for you to offer your abuser—changes you from victim to a victor in Christ. And it can change them, too.
Do you feel hopeless when it comes to pursuing your goals or keeping your commitments? God’s forgiveness can make you productive and fruitful.
When God forgives, it looks like this: “Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs” (Isaiah 35:6,7).
This is incredible—if not impossible—change. Burning, desert sand doesn’t just turn into a tropical beach. But with God, nothing is impossible.
“Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear’” (Isaiah 35:3,4). Whatever you fear, it is not stronger than God. Whatever sin or shame causes you to stumble, God changes the scene with his miracle of mercy.
PRAYER: With might and mercy, O God, work your divine forgiveness in my soul and in my strained relationships. Refresh me with your grace, and change me, filling me with praise and joy. Alleluia! Amen!
FURTHER MEDITATION: Watch the video a song by Christian artist We the Kingdom, called “Holy Water.” The chorus sings to God:
Your forgiveness
is like sweet, sweet honey on my lips
like the sound of a symphony to my ears
like holy water on my skin.
Holy water can be properly understand as normal water that God uses for his holy purposes. The water itself isn’t holy, but its purpose is holy. Like the waters of baptism, mentioned in the song. Rejoice today in the change that God’s forgiveness creates in you and this world!
