Skip to content ↓

Our Forgetful God

There are some things I just can’t forget. There are some wrongs done to me that I cannot erase from my mind. I try, I pray. I don’t want to remember them. I don’t want them to remain in my memory or to come back to my mind. But somehow I can’t forget them. Somehow, sooner or later, they come back, flooding me once again with all of those thoughts, feelings, and emotions.

There are some things God just can’t remember. Perhaps better said, there are some things God just won’t remember. There are some wrongs done to him that he will not bring back to his mind. He doesn’t want to remember them. He doesn’t need to remember them. They never come back, flooding him with all of those thoughts, feelings, and emotions. They are erased from his mind and gone forever.

“I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins” (Isaiah 43:25). “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more” (Hebrews 8:12). “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more” (Hebrews 10:17).

This is a wonder to me, a wonder of wonders, that God should say that He will do what in some sense He cannot do

Looking at all of this evidence, Charles Spurgeon says, “This is a wonder to me, a wonder of wonders, that God should say that He will do what in some sense He cannot do—that He should use speech which includes impossibility, and yet that it should be strictly true as He intends it.” He intends for us to know that “His pardon is so true and deep that it amounts to an absolute oblivion, a total forgetting of all the wrong-doing of the pardoned ones.” God puts aside our sin so thoroughly, so utterly, so completely that it is like he has forgotten it altogether. He has so dealt with our sin that he does not ponder it, he does not ruminate over it, he does not allow it to change the way he thinks of us, he does not look for further justification to make right our wrong-doings. “The Great Father’s heart is not brooding over the injuries we have done. His infinite mind is not revolving within itself the tale of our iniquities. Ah, no. If we have fled to Christ for refuge, the Lord remembers our sin no more. The record of our iniquity is taken away, and the judge has no judicial memory of it.”

The very things I cannot forget are the very things God will not remember.

Image credit: Shutterstock


  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (April 5)

    A La Carte: The Lioness, the Witch and the Wardrobe / Are people basically good? / Who gets to define a healthy baby? / Go, gently / Films that defined Christian politics / Rethinking our mission field / and more.

  • Sermon Introduction

    Three Levels of Sermon Introduction

    Though every sermon necessarily needs a beginning, it does not necessarily need a formal introduction. Though it has to begin somewhere, there is no rule that it must begin with some kind of story or illustration. A preacher can jump straight into his text if he so desires. Some do.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (April 4)

    A LA Carte: Causes of division in the church / Union with Christians / The 1%-er rhetoric / Pray or sleep? / Distinguishing shame from guilt / Many more Kindle deals / and so on.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (April 3)

    A La Carte: Never too late to learn how to pray / Walking with those who weep / Rethinking the role of pastor’s wife / What does the Bible mean when it teaches wives to submit? / Does God want some to go to hell? / Kindle deals / and more.

  • The Most Pleasant Show on Television

    The Most Pleasant Show on Television

    I rarely review, recommend, or even mention movies and television programs. I rarely do so because I am aware that tastes vary and so too do family rules and personal consciences. Not only that, but I am not very adept at understanding the themes or messages in visual media and wouldn’t wish to inadvertently lead…