Living Down Your Past
Asking God to Forget
We all have a past as the saying goes, and so do I. Even when I’m not thinking about the past it’s still there. I can’t get away from it as hard as I try. It colors everything. When I feel like my life lacks something, or when I notice prayers that are not answered as I would like, I often recall my past failings.
Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you, LORD, are good. Psalm 25:7
In this Psalm of David, we find a man struggling with his past as well. He asks God to forget the sins of his youth. I’m not sure what age he means by “youth,” but what I carry with me is well beyond my youth. But that’s not the point. He is praying that God will not remember the sins and rebellious ways which are in his past. I can relate to that.
Here is where I found comfort: since David is praying under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, it’s clear that God wants to do that which he is asking. In other words, God would not inspire a prayer which he is not willing to answer. It is as if God is saying, “I want to toss your past sins and rebellious ways in the sea of forgetfulness.” That stirred my heart. If God forgets them then why should I hold on to them?
I know I’m forgiven through what Jesus did for me on the cross, but I still assume past sins are hindering me in the present. In doing that I’m dismissing the blessedness of being forgiven.
Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. (Psalm 32:1)
Do we have faith to release the sins and rebellious ways of our past and not allow them to color our understanding of the present and our future? If our slate is clean, why do we keep recalling what was on there before?
As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:12)
