“Everything is against me!” (Genesis 42:36).
FAILURE OR FAULTLESS?
There isn’t a human being alive who hasn’t failed at some point—making mistakes, errors of judgement, poor self-control and downright sinful behaviour plague us all.
What can we do?
We have probably all felt like Jacob at some point saying “Everything is against me”.
Why do people let us down? Why do we let ourselves down? How can God possibly use us?
Well, the really good news is that in Christ we are made spotless, and have a clean slate. “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing b her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Eph 5:25–27).
God forgives us when we mess up, if we come before him in true humility and repentance God forgives, for “the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).
“But” we may hear the devil say, “you mess up so many times, there’s hardly a day goes by without some ill-advised words coming out of your mouth, you upset people, you get lazy when you should be busy and busy with fruitless pursuits when you should be resting. How can God forgive you?”
Yes, we may hear the enemy of our souls utter such phrases as that, but the Scriptures give us our answer. Jesus spoke to Peter about forgiveness. “Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven times’” (Matt 18:22).
Peter may have thought that forgiving someone seven times was ample, but not according to Jesus. Now this is good because, if the Lord expected Peter, and us, to forgive seventy times seven, don’t you think that God himself is ready to forgive seventy times seven? Or in other words, as many times as it takes.
Yes, God will forgive as many times as we come to him in sincere repentance. We ought never need worry that God’s grace might run out. People’s grace may extend to seven times, although that’s quite high for some people. Perhaps some people will give you forgiveness a couple of times, or maybe three times at a push. But God’s love is different to man. When God sees repentance, he is willing to extend his grace to us, he doesn’t bear a grudge or behave like a resentful human being: “I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I devastate Ephraim again. For I am God, and not a man” (Hosea 11:9).
We thank God for his amazing grace.