God Generously Forgives

Seek the Lord while you can find him.

Call on him now while he is near.

Let the wicked change their ways

and banish the very thought of doing wrong.

Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them.

Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.

Isaiah 55:6-7

The first two sentences of this passage (verse 6) seems to suggest that God may be going somewhere.  It makes it sound as though God isn't always with us.  However, the Bible is also clear that He will always be with His people.  "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you."  John 14:16  We can ALWAYS count on God to be there.  He promises that. 

So, when there are times that you feel as though God isn't there, if you are a child of God, it's not because He has left you.  Most likely, quite the opposite has happened.  You have left Him.  When we abandon the path of righteousness, our detour takes us through the route of sin.  Unconfessed sin builds a wall between us and God.  The longer we go without confessing that sin and seeking His forgiveness the thicker and higher this wall of sin becomes.  The further we are from Him because of sin, the more we are apt to sin.  So the wall continues to get higher and thicker.  The more we sin, the more ashamed we become.  The more ashamed we become, the more we want to 'hide' from God or ignore Him.  After a while, it seems harder for us for us to ask for His forgiveness.  Soon, we are caught up in a vicious cycle of sin.  If this happens, then the enemy has us exactly where He wants us - ineffective and shutting out God.  Therefore, when God seems so distant and far away to us, it's because we're the ones who have distanced ourselves from Him and not the other way around!  Yes, there are times in Scripture where God became angry with His people and turned His face from them.  However, He doesn't abandon us.  He patiently awaits our cries for mercy and for us to turn to Him!  Once we turn to Him, He is right there by our side.

Holding on to unconfessed sin is spiritually unhealthy.  It hampers our relationship with our loving Savior who SUFFERED and DIED for these sins that we so tightly cling to!  Instead, we should be quick to see His forgiveness, sincerely repenting from that sin.  Procrastinating is the worst thing we could do!  The longer we procrastenate in confessing our sins and asking for His forgiveness, the harder it will be to do so.  In addition, no one knows when Christ will return.  We need to seek His forgiveness now, while we still have an opportunity in this life to do so!  So don't get caught with your Long Johns down!

God forgives generously!  However, that doesn't mean we are to sin generously!  What it means is that when we do mess up, He is ALWAYS ready to forgive.  It means He has infinite patience with us affording us infinitely many chances.  It means that He willingly sent His BELOVED Son to pay the price for our many sins.  Accept Him as your Lord and Savior TODAY!  No matter what you have done in your past, HE WILL FORGIVE YOU.  He will send HIS Holy Spirit to abide in you!  He loves you just that much!

In His Love, Cathy