The psalmist, trusting in the Lord, prays that God’s great love and mercy from of
old be remembered so that the psalmist's youthful sin and rebellious ways might be forgotten.
While the Lord, remembering us in love, erases the memory of our rebellion we
do not so easily forget our own folly or foolishness or willful acts of insolence
and indulgence. Memories, as fresh as the day they were recorded, return to us
and in accusing and condemning bring to mind guilt and shame. The enemy that triumphs
over me lives in my own heart and mind as I remember what God has forgotten as
if God still holds it against me. Forgiveness freely offered is never fully
received as long as I continue to hold myself accountable for the sin God
forgot long ago. Since the way of the Lord is first and foremost forgiveness the
instruction of the sinner begins with trusting the Lord who is faithful and
loving. When we believe the Lord forgives we might dare to forgive ourselves.
It does not mean that forgiving is forgetting only that we are no longer bound by the sin we remember. And
so we forget the shame of our sin when we remember God’s forgetful forgiveness and whenever we remember that God has forgotten the sin we remember we are fully free from our youthful sins and rebellious ways.
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