Does God Ever Forget?
A little child came to her mother, head bowed, voice shaky, and scared to death because she forgot her books at school. A stern-faced mother, eyes piercing almost into her soul, silently wondering what the proper words are that she must say, stood before her.“I forgot. I just forgot,” said the little girl. Before the mother could respond, her daughter came out with perhaps the greatest question of her life. “Does God ever forget,” she asked?
There are people today who have given their lives over to the Lord Jesus Christ, to yield to Him and serve Him with their lives, who still have this issue unsettled in their hearts.“Does God ever forget?”
I think the saddest thing I have ever witnessed religiously within the body of Christ is a believer who is not convinced that God can really forgive. They know they want to go to heaven. They know they want to be with Jesus. They know that God is the only God, but they do not know that you can really know that you are saved.
The little girl in this story asked the right question. Perhaps she asked it with a different intention than dealing with sin, but it was still the right question.
Listen to the Hebrew writer in chapter 8:12 concerning believers; “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Because Jesus is our Great High Priest, and because He ministers over a new covenant, you and I can know that God has forgotten our sin.
Paul said to Timothy,“That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.” Again he said, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day–and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”(II Tim. 4:7-8)
Having the assurance of salvation makes life in Christ a joy. There is no drudgery. A Christian can face every day with a brightness, no matter how dark the world about them is.
Assurance gives you peace. You can have peace with your inability to perform 100% righteously because you know that your righteousness now comes from God, not yourself.(Rom. 3:21) Not only are you assured peace with yourselves but you are assured peace with God. Listen, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom. 5:1)
When we are covered by the blood of Christ, there is nothing or no one who can convict us of sin. Jesus forgives our sins by His blood atonement. When we walk with Him and appeal to His blood, God forgets our sin.
Now you answer the little girl’s question: Does God ever forget?