Forgiving the Unforgivable (Part 2)

 

   

  

      Happy New Year! I am so excited to see everything God has in store for 2023. This may also be my last blog for a hot minute because I will be heading back to college shortly for the second semester, but before I take a break from blogging I want to finish the second half of my devotional on forgiveness!

    In part one I covered the fruits of the spirit, the different levels of forgiveness, what God says about forgiveness, my personal experience with forgiveness, and what we should do when forgiving just feels too impossible. Part one focused a lot on the forgiver, this blog I want to focus more on the person being forgiven.

    I want to start off by sharing these verses:

                ¨Why do you see the speck that is in your brother´s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ´Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye´, when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother´s eye.¨ (Luke 6:41-42)

        Jesus´s point in this statement is that every human of flesh contains flaws, burdens to carry, and brokenness. We are so quick to judge, accuse, and be angry at others for their actions for our own selfish reasons. The truth that many of us fail to remember is that WE ARE ALL EQUALLY SINFUL. Whether the sin is murdering someone or something simple like lying to your parents, sin is sin and it consumes every human being. Understanding that is really important, because the evil we pay so close attention to inside other humans like us blinds us from seeing who our real enemy is. That enemy is Satan.

            ¨Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles.¨ (Proverbs 24:17)

    The person in my life that I struggle to forgive is definitely one I have to watch stumble and fall. After years of holding in anger and fear that this person would get their way, I began to see that in reality they were losing and the Lord was watching after me. I now know that this person can´t do anything to me but say words that I can either let hurt me or not offend me because I know they aren´t true. 

        In some ways, I can relate my relationship with this person to the relationship between David and Saul from the Bible. Saul was the king of Israel, but the Lord left him because he followed his own ways and not God´s. David had the Lord, and was blessed by him because of it. Even though David was good to Saul, Saul hated him because of how blessed David was and how miserable he was. Saul became a crazy mad man who devoted his life to killing David. God led David out of harm, and Saul´s mental health declined more and more as his hunt for David grew longer. There were a couple times where David had the opportunity to kill Saul out of revenge, such as in 1 Samuel 24:1-22. I´m sure you would be tempted to get revenge on some crazy man out to kill you, however, revenge is not what God wants. David stopped himself from killing Saul, who was sound asleep. He knew that Saul was flesh just like him, and his fate was in the Lord´s hands.

    If you look into Saul and think about who he is other than the crazy king who was out to kill David, you can see that under all his evil was a broken heart that could have been fixed if he hadn´t allowed Satan to possess him. Reading into Saul I could determine what was pushing him to sin against David. He obviously had depression, insecurity issues, and other forms of psychological mental health disorders. He probably felt betrayed and alone when God left him, but he was too full of himself to own up to anything. 

    Saul is exactly like the person I am forced to deal with. They aren´t trying to kill me, but they are trying to manipulate, guilt trip, and attack me verbally because instead of admitting to anything they did wrong or asking for forgiveness they are choosing to cope with their failing life by making themselves believe that they are innocent. They just deny that behaving this way is only making everything worse for them. Just as David spared Saul however, I have to be the mature one and spare this person. 

    What helps me in the process of forgiveness is taking my focus off of the way I´m feeling and putting myself in my attackers shoes. What are they going through? Hurting Emma couldn´t have been the first thought of my sinners when they were born. Something had to lead to that.

  I’m telling y’all, I cried and prayed over this person for years. I’ve begged for them to see they’re wrong, and I have even tried cutting them out of my life thinking I would feel better. It did not make me feel any better, it only made things worse. It hurts that this person is the way that they are, when really they are supposed to be someone for me to turn to. Unfortunately, I’ve had to accept that they are out of my control. I know that this person is deeply hurt, but no matter what is troubling them in their life only they can choose to fix themselves and get past their struggles. 

    It’s reassuring to know that this person doesn’t treat me the way that they do because they hate me. It’s just a side affect to how broken they are. I find forgiveness a lot easier knowing that nobody holds power over me but God, and my sinners are just as broken and hurt as I am. 

    Who is a person in your life that you feel betrayed by? Think about their sins against you. Is the sin so bad to the point where you can’t live anymore? Well, obviously not if you are reading this blog! You are still alive and able to make options on what you do with it. There is nothing man can do that’s impossible to overcome. Let that sink in, and then think about your sinner. What could have pushed them to do what they did? Could they have been like Saul, who wanted love and a purpose but just didn’t know how to ask for it? Whenever you have to deal with another person sinning against you, remember to tell yourself that they are NOT your enemy!!! Satan is the enemy. 

       Forgiveness is a topic I can just go on and on about because it’s such an important subject to my life that God calls me to be vocal about. One day, I may decide to write a book on my relationship with forgiveness and how the Lord has used it in my life. I’m not sure when I will be able to post another devotional. Depending on how my classes for the upcoming semester go, hopefully I will be able to post something in the next couple of months. Until then, I pray that these first 3 devotionals had an impact on your spiritual life. Prayers for 2023, and I encourage y’all to always chase after the Lord this year!

     Happy New Year!!!!

         - Emma