This season, with so many things happening, changes in the status quo, foundations being rocked, boundaries being tested, it helps to see things in perspective again.
During the retreat, i heard this statement "We need to forgive God..."
I totally and utterly rebuke this...because it is COMPLETELY wrong
It is not my opinion but a fact for me, because I see no example in the bible of God EVER asking us to forgive Him, or of Him even asking us for forgiveness! (show me an example if you find one...but i suspect you'd have to search til eternity or twist some example just to even hint at this)
In contemporary culture, maybe Forgiveness means letting go of an offense...like "forgive & forget", but that lacks the biblical perspective, and i think we've fallen into that trap.
Forgiveness at its biblical root means cancelling a debt, extending grace to someone who DOESN'T deserve it, forgetting an injustice. And if you look at those 3...how can we ever make God our debtor? Isn't God worthy? and God is a God of justice so...what injustice can He do?
I think...when someone makes a statement like that...they misunderstand God, or they fail to see that God is Good, all the time. It hints at a disbelief of God in some area of life. Or it means that they have believed in a subtle lie.
A lie like "We need to forgive God" basically undermines the character of God, and elevates the status of man. It implies that God...isn't good, isn't just or isn't loving, and it also implies that we think our feelings of aggravation are more important than the painful truth God reveals. It puts us on an equal or higher footing than God to say that we are able to forgive Him. This is a lie that is utterly anthropocentric (Man-centered) and not God centered.
When God reveals truth, it will might be painful, we might feel injustice, or even feel hurt by God. But if truth is allowed to do it's work within us, we gradually come to the realisation that...we felt that pain, injustice or hurt because we were holding on to certain "rights" that we thought we were "entitled to" but really, we are a people with NO rights, our whole life is a gift, the privileges and luxuries we enjoy are all given from God...maybe we have forgotten that, and that's why God in His Love reveals it to us. Truth when it has worked it's way fully into our souls, leaves us with a deeper sense of Love, a greater appreciation of His mercy, a bigger heart of compassion, and a ton of things more to give thanks for.
Maybe that's why God calls Surrender a great act of Worship,
In giving up & giving in, we finally see God for who He is,
and relinquish what we think is "ours"
to fully acknowledge what is His.
Thank You Lord!
