Your Daily Slice

 

NISAN 5

Quick to Forgive

 

“For You, יהוה, are good, and ready to forgive, And great in kindness to all those who call upon You.” (Ps 86:5)

 

The mother of my first husband was a very bitter, vindictive, unforgiving woman.  When I met my future in-laws for the first time, the two of them had not spoken to each other in over a year, all the while residing within the same house.  This sad state of affairs was all because the husband had said (or done) something that had made the wife angry.  And from what I was told, this was not the first time she had imposed this type of punishment on her husband.  When my then mother-in-law died, some years later, she was all but confined to a wheelchair from arthritis, her hands so crippled that she could not write her name, and with other physical problems involved as well.  Yet the things she held close to her heart were the many ‘grudges’ she held against people that had ‘done her wrong’, and she took these grudges with her into the grave.

 

Bitterness and resentment are a cancer that will eat you alive, both physically and spiritually.  Brethren, when it comes right down to the brass tacks, bitterness has its root in pride, and this is something our Elohim cannot tolerate in His kingdom.  When we choose to constantly remember and rehearse past offenses, wrongs that were done, or a hurt suffered, we set ourselves up as judge, jury, and executioner of whoever did the wrong to us, and that is a position reserved for our Creator.  Basically, we are pushing Elohim off His throne, saying “I will handle this one …”

 

Has someone done something to you as horrible as what people have done to the Father, in that they tortured and executed Yeshua, the Son of Elohim?  Are we not continually, in our self-sovereignty, rejecting the love and care of our Elohim, believing that WE can tend to ourselves better than He can?  And yet, our Father chooses to have compassion on us, and forgive us.  Are we so much better and bigger than our Elohim that we cannot (or will not) forgive another that is made in His image?  Our Elohim knows the bondage of bitterness, resentment and unforgiveness; it is one of the reasons for our Messiah’s death, to free us from this bondage (see Acts 5:30-31; Acts 26:18).  The key, however, to receiving our own forgiveness from the Father, is first to forgive and release others from what they have done.

 

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father shall also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither shall your Father forgive your trespasses.”  (Mat 6:14-15)

 

Once we choose to release all these negative harmful emotions to our Creator and ask Him for His healing touch in those raw areas, then we are well on our way to walking in shalom, His peace that surpasses all understanding (Phi 4:7).  As we persevere in this walk – and it may not be easy – it will allow Elohim to act in our behalf, because now our heart is in right relationship with Him.  In this case, I do know what I am talking about:  I had to learn to walk in forgiveness toward this mother-in-law, and her son, the one that I called ‘husband’.  My first husband was extremely abusive, even tried to kill me several times, but my Abba was faithful, and delivered my children and I out of the lion’s mouth.  But first, I had to walk in the shalom that my Father gave to me before I was delivered.

 

“Be forebearing one to another, and be forgiving one to another, and if a man has concerning his neighbor a complaint, as the Messiah forgave you, thus also YOU FORGIVE.” (Col 3:13 HRVS, emphasis mine)

 

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