Forgiving Ourselves

By Debbie Christopher ~Do you know of anyone---yourself included---who continues to dwell on a past sin, and you want to ‘shout out’ to them: ‘FORGIVE YOURSELF’!? Many of us struggle with that, don’t we—-ourselves included!

In my daily Bible reading app (‘As It Happened’). I am in the section were King David’s Psalms regarding his sin involving Bathsheba are part of the reading. One particular day included Psalm 32 and 51.

Many of you have probably heard sermons, devotions, lessons, or Bible studies from Psalm 51. Briefly though, please note the emphasis of verses 1-17 which lay out what may be considered the ‘steps of seeking forgiveness’.  This is a wonderful Psalm regarding forgiveness, and I encourage you to read through it.

Passages such as Psalm 103 —which just so happens to be a Davidic Psalm of forgiveness—-and I John 1:9 reassure us that God is faithful to forgive us when we go to Him and plead for His mercy and forgiveness when we recognize that we’ve sinned against Him.

On that Bible reading day, Psalm 32 stood out to me as almost a “new” Psalm although I’ve read through the Psalms many times. It is the perfect passage to remind us to ‘forgive ourselves’. I’ve hyperlinked this Psalm so you can click on it and take time to read it a couple of times to allow it to soak in! God’s Word speaks clearly and assures us we can FORGIVE OURSELVES!

Interestingly, Paul quotes from this Psalm in Romans 4 of his letter to the new believers in Rome, who no doubt, were dealing with understanding the concept of complete forgiveness.

Psalm 32 speaks of David’s thoughts after God bestows forgiveness and mercy. Notice the comforting adjectives and phrases in Psalm 32.

Joyfulness

​Peace

​Guiltlessness

​Wisdom and Understanding​

​God’s watchfulness and protection

​Surrounded by God’s love and mercy

Or, to make it extra simple: God forgives and replaces our guilt with joy and peace, so let’s forgive ourselves—

and share the joy of merciful

and complete forgiveness

with others!

 (as found in Psalm 51:13)

Forgive yourself and rejoice!

~Debbie