9 - God's Compassion

Luke 7
38. Going in, she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping, with her tears falling down upon his feet; and she wiped them off with her hair and kissed them and poured the perfume on them..
47. "Therefore her sins - and they are many - are forgiven, for she loved me much; but one who is forgiven little, shows little love."
48. And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."    (Living Bible)

When we come to a place of utter sincerity and truthfulness about our sin, then this is how our heavenly Father responds:
19. Once again you will have compassion on us. You will tread our sins beneath your feet; you will throw them into the depths of the ocean!
20. You will bless us as you promised Jacob long ago. You will set your love upon us, as you promised our father Abraham!    (Micah 7 Living Bible)

First, the Lord has compassion upon us.
What's that, you ask?
Compassion is a deep awareness of and sympathy for another's condition, and wanting to do something about it.

He understands our confession and He forgives us and cleanses us in the blood of the Lord Jesus.

Then something really marvelous happens:
Micah says that he treads our sins beneath His feet and throws them into the depths of the ocean!
What good is that, you ask?
It means that He does not to remember them anymore.
And that means that I can also have the freedom to forgive myself.
I too can tread my sins beneath my feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean.

Look at it this way:
Do you know how to find where the Titanic has sunk to?
God has put your sins as far away as that! And since He doesn't choose to go looking for them, you shouldn't either.

Isn't that wonderful!!

Micah says that God then sets His love upon us.
This we really need, because our past sinful lifestyle has caused trouble for us either within ourselves or in our relationships with those close to us, or both.
When God sets His love upon us, He is giving us His ability to face the consequences of our past lifestyle with His power.

This woman whose sins Jesus forgave, needed all this to happen in her life, and so do we.

Prayer:
Father, thank You for setting Your love upon my life so that I can face my life's events with Your power.
Today I go forth in Your strength,
in the name of Jesus who made this possible for me,    Amen.