Episode 144-Forgiveness

Nicole:

Welcome to Sweet Selah Moments. We’re celebrating 10 seasons of sharing God’s word with you. And

this season is our Selah season. This is episode 144, Forgiveness. It’s not always easy to forgive, and we’ll

talk about that in upcoming episodes. This episode on forgiveness is about asking for forgiveness. That’s

not always easy either. It’s hard to admit we’re wrong. It’s very humbling to have to ask for forgiveness,

but it absolutely sets us free. We can’t wait to dive into Psalm 32 today and learn more about asking for

forgiveness. But first, because this is our Selah season, we’re going to talk about our Selah word for the

day, the tip we have to help us all practice pausing and simply being with the God who loves us. So far,

we’ve talked about silence, going slow and times of solitude. Sharon, what’s our word for today?

Sharon:

Well, in keeping with the S theme, (Nicole: Oh!) We actually have two words, but the first one begins

with an S, Selah Day.

Nicole:

Oh, I like that one.

Sharon:

One of the sweetest life lessons I learned long ago in Mom’s in Prayer through a friend, Marlae Gritter,

was the concept of spending a day or part of a day alone with God. In fact, Marlae called it a dawg day,

DAWG (Nicole: That’s cute) Day Alone With God. But we focus on Selah here in this ministry. So I

renamed it Selah Days, but really, I almost think we should change the name again, to Selah Hours, Selah

Minutes. (Mmm) Because when you say, would you like to spend a Selah Day with God, people imagine

24 hours, (Right) Or 12 hours. And I don’t know about you, but my Selah days are more like four to five

hours. What about you? What do you do on a Selah day and how long are yours?

Nicole:

Yeah. Mine usually only go for two to four hours, honestly. (Sharon: See, yeah) In this season of life,

between kids and puppies, it’s hard. So what I typically do is I’ll drop my kids off at school in the

morning, and then I kind of close out all of my communication. So text my husband, let him know I’m

gonna be, you know, off my phone for a bit, check in with friends where I was messaging, and say, Hey,

I’m off for a little bit, close out email. Make sure that there’s no last minute school things. And then I put

on worship music. That’s huge for me, (Oh) ’cause it sets the tone whether I’m staying home, in my home,

I put it on or in my car when I’m driving to that Selah location. (Yeah) But music is huge, just worship

music, and I start singing to him and just kind of letting my mind focus and my heart settle, because after

the morning rush, I’m a little frazzled and I’m not thinking peaceful, calm thoughts. So it helps me kind of

get into that groove. (Mm-hmm) And then lately I’ve been keeping it very simple, just lots of prayer.

(Mm-hmm) And then journaling. So I’ll write my prayers or I’ll just respond to what he’s been talking to

me about. And then I’ve been doing a bible study on James lately, which has been really, (huh) fun.

Sharon:

Nice. Nice.

Nicole:

So that’s what, and sometimes I’ll read a chapter of like an edifying Christian book. (Sharon: Yes) You

know, something like that. And then nap.

Sharon:I feel like napping is a very key element in a Selah extended time.

Nicole:

There’s something about a Selah nap. It just feels more special than a normal nap. And I never would’ve

napped before, but in this season, I’ve needed it. And it’s such a gift. So I thank God for my Selah naps.

Sharon:

I know it. I always think of Elijah who’s like, I am so tired with the world, I am going to sit under a broom

tree and ask God to just make me die. And God says, ‘Actually, what you need is a nap’.

Nicole:

Just try sleeping first.

Sharon:

You need a nap. Yeah. I think that is awesome. I really do. And so, you know, we need to think of a new

way to phrase it. It’s basically an extended time where the focus is on the relationship we have with God.

Nicole:

Right.

Sharon:

Right? And it can be an hour, but really, for me anyways, the first hour sometimes is necessary just to

quiet my heart.

Nicole:

Yes, absolutely.

Sharon:

You know, because of the frenetic pace that we sometimes keep. So in my season of life, I like four to

five hours. And, I’m allowed to do it. And, you know, as a matter of fact, the last one I did, I realized I’d

been on my phone too much when I shut off the phone, put it in the bedroom, shut the door. (Nicole:

Right) So the phone was nowhere near me. And, you know, I always shut off my computer and shut that

door too. (Right) Nicole, I felt a palpable sense of release (Oh, nice) to not be tied to the phone. (Yeah) I

thought, okay, well this is a sign I need to do this more than just on Selah days. (Oh, sure) Yeah. Yeah.

(Just to unhook from the world) Absolutely. (I put it on Do Not Disturb. I love hitting that button. There’s

such freedom in like, oh, I’m not getting notifications for a few minutes and then just breathe.) Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Well, I never get notifications. I’m like, absolutely not. I don’t want anybody to tell me anything.

But I don’t have small children. (Right) Where their school teacher might call. You need notifications.

And I’m like, nope. I’m gonna look when I’m gonna look. (Right) But because I run our Facebook page.

(Yes) I have to look a lot. So anyways, all that to say, yeah, and so my last Selah day was home as well.

(Mm-hmm) And I lit a fire (Oh, nice) and took a short walk because it was freezing outside.

Nicole:

It’s been so cold.

Sharon:And then I read, you know, the Word, and I have a Bible where there’s all kinds of rabbit trails I can take

(Nicole: Oh, fun) that tells me the strongest concordance meaning for the words (Yeah) which adds such

depth and richness. And when I’ve got an extended time, I can rabbit trail to my heart’s content.

Nicole:

Go to this verse and then this verse. And then this word.

Sharon:

That’s exactly right. And read an ancient book, oh my goodness Nicole, my mom was given this book by

her mentor on her wedding day in 1955.

Nicole:

Oh my goodness. Wow.

Sharon:

And it’s older than that. And it’s lovely.

Nicole:

Oh, how fun.

Sharon:

And I read a chapter a month. And I think of my mommy. It’s so fun.

Nicole:

Oh, that’s sweet.

Sharon:

So, and then prayer.

Nicole:

Yeah. Oh yeah.

Sharon:

And the absolute necessity of the nap.

Nicole:

Oh, of course.

Sharon:

Yes.

Nicole:

Good way to end it.

Sharon:So, anyways, that’s what I do.

Nicole:

Mmm. I do enjoy our Selah days. So, well, I hope, we hope we’ve inspired you to try a Selah day. Clearly

Sharon and I love them. We do. And we think you will too. So if you go to our website and click on the

menu, you’ll find a tab that will tell you all about Selah days, and even give you some suggested studies to

pursue when you have your special day. So check it out. Okay, Sharon, time to get to our topic of the day,

Forgiveness.

Sharon:

Yes. I love this. And especially asking for it because a lot of times we have talked even on this podcast

about, you know, the need to forgive others. (Nicole: Yeah) It’s also hard to ask for forgiveness. (It is) So

here we go. Our psalm with the word Selah in it is written by David, and it’s Psalm 32 today, David has

been forgiven a great sin and is rejoicing. His rejoicing is evident in this song of praise we are about to

read. When we don’t confess sin, it lays heavy on our hearts. When we ask for and receive forgiveness,

that heaviness disappears and the joy is great. So we’ve got four sections in the Psalm. Each one divided

by our beautiful word Selah. We’ll be reading in the New Living Translation, but using Selah instead of

‘Interlude’ the word the NLT chooses. So Nicole, you’ve got the first section.

Nicole:

All right. So I’m reading Psalm 32, A Psalm of David. “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is

forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight. Yes, what joy, for those whose record the Lord has cleared of

guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty. When I refuse to confess my sin, my body wasted away.

And I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength

evaporated like water in the summer heat. Selah” So this psalm makes me want to go and confess right

now. Goodness, just the burden of feeling how our sins do lay so heavy on us, even if we’re not always

entirely conscious of them.

Sharon:

Yes.

Nicole:

You know, and this reminded me of barnacles.

Sharon:

Barnacles?

Nicole:

Barnacles. And here’s why. My daughters were researching a project about barnacles on ships, and they

seem fairly harmless and they kind of appear, and the ship owner is not aware of them while he’s

traveling. (Sharon: Uh huh) But when barnacles build up, they significantly slow down the ship. They

create this drag that affects their fuel efficiency, their time from getting to and from places. So it affects

the ship slowly over time and causes a great disturbance in this ship. And I think of that like our sin, if

we’re not quick to confess or clean off those barnacles of sin, it slows us down and our hearts do become

heavy and our bodies kind of waste away. And we’re, we don’t even know why, like why am I feeling this

way? (Yeah) Because sometimes we’re not always aware of when we sin. So it just goes to show how

important it is to keep that list short with God, that daily confession, God, what have I done today that I

don’t even know about?Sharon:

You know what, that’s true. Sometimes he says, do you remember that conversation you had with your

husband? (Nicole: Right) Oh yeah, that. You know?

Nicole:

need to confess that.

Oh, I forgot about that. Remember how you were gossiping about that person the other day? Yeah. You

Sharon:

Exactly.

Nicole:

That’s why you feel so crummy. And then when we do come to him and confess and get those barnacles

scraped off there’s less drag on our souls. You know?

Sharon:

I think that is a wonderful example.

Nicole:

Barnacles. Watch out for barnacle like sin.

Sharon:

Okay. That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Well, I have a teeny tiny section until the next Selah. It says this.

“Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, I will confess

my rebellion to the Lord. And you forgave me. All my guilt is gone. Selah.” I think that last line is so

beautiful. We hide because we too often think that God is like humans. (Nicole: Mm-hmm) When you

confess to a human, they’re not always generous right away with forgiveness. (Right) I tend to, if

someone confesses to me, wanna rehearse what they did wrong before I forgive them. (Right) You are

right. What you did was just awful. You know?

Nicole:

And I’m forgiving you quite a bit just so you know.

Sharon:

Yes, and then just sort of nobly forgive after I’ve made sure they know.

Nicole:

Right, just how grievous it was.

Sharon:

You know, this is not something I’m proud of. This is not how God forgives. (Nicole: Yeah) God runs

toward the prodigal son, puts a robe on him and kills the fatted calf. I mean, what is that? He’s longing for

us to say we’re sorry so he can forgive us. So the exclamation point that’s in my NLT Bible kind of says to

me, David’s like, and you forgave me. Like this is so cool. All my guilt is gone. So we wanna hide and it’s

not good. And I’ve talked about this before in an earlier podcast, but the summer that I blithely backed outof my garage right into Ray’s car in the driveway, (Oh, no) And caused massive damage to Oh, both cars,

each of which had a separate $500, what do you call it?

Nicole:

Deductible.

Sharon:

Thank you.

Nicole:

Oh, that’s awful. Oh no.

Sharon:

Yes. Do you think I wanted to go back in the house and tell Ray what just happened?

Nicole:

Probably not.

Sharon:

No, I did not. But I knew that, you know, you really can’t, first of all hide the fact that both cars were

super damaged.

Nicole:

He might have noticed, he might have.

Sharon:

Right. But, I told him right away and then it’s done. You know? And I’m not thinking of how to explain it

to him. I just went in and said, Ray, I just backed my car into your car. There’s massive damage and I’m

calling the insurance company. I love you. Would you like a cookie?

Nicole:

Oh, that’s cute.

Sharon:

Yes. Ray said nothing. He was in shock. But that was good, you know?

Nicole:

Right. But you were quick to confess and ask for forgiveness.

Sharon:

I was quick to confess. Exactly. So there we go.

Nicole:

Oh, I love it. Alright. And so my section says, “Therefore let all the godly pray to you while there is still

time that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgment. For you are my hiding place. You protectme from trouble. You surround me with songs of victory, Selah” So I feel like in this passage, there’s

some urgency here.

Sharon:

Yes.

Nicole:

There’s some, we shouldn’t put this off to confess. We don’t know how much time we have and we don’t

wanna waste it feeling guilty or suffering judgment. So let’s be quick to confess and get that freedom from

him that Oh, you forgave me my guilt is gone.

Sharon:

Exactly.

Nicole:

Much better way to live.

Sharon:

Much better. And you know, David is speaking from very personal experience when he took another

man’s wife, and slept with her and got her pregnant, and then arranged for the man to die. I mean, this is,

it’s kind of worse.

Nicole:

It’s a good experience here. He can speak from a place of understanding.

Sharon:

Yes. Yes. And he did not confess right away.

Nicole:

Right. He lived with it.

Sharon:

I mean, Nathan had to come and talk to him about it, and Nathan talked to him about it when Bathsheba

was already quite a long ways away with her child. So, he knows the drag. (Nicole: Yeah) He knows the

shame. And he knows the hiding, you know, so when he’s like, confess quickly. (Yeah) He’s saying, don’t

do what I did. (Right) In a sense.

Nicole:

Well, and I love, like right after that, he says, there’s a promise of a safe haven for us. You are my hiding

place. You protect me from trouble. (Sharon: Yes) So it’s kind of like you said about the prodigal son’s

dad. He was ready to forgive him. He was willing and he was looking for it. (Yeah) God is waiting and

looking for that to forgive us. (Yeah) And then he offers a hiding place and then victory from sin. He

surrounds us with songs of victory. It’s almost like he reminds us the victory through him. (Isn’t it

beautiful? Yeah) So quick to restore. There is no lecture, there’s no, well, you did it again, kid. Here we

go. (Right) And I was so overcome by the forgiveness and then the hiding in the hiding place and then the

song’s of victory. (Yeah, yeah, yeah) It’s a beautiful way to end forgiveness.Sharon:

It is, It is. And you know, you just hugged yourself when you said hiding. And I’m thinking the prodigal

son was enveloped in his father’s hug. Oh. So when we come to God and say, I’m so sorry (Nicole: Mmm-

hmm) We’re nestled. (We are) We’re brought close. Man!

Nicole:

That’s so beautiful.

Sharon:

Oh, I’m glad we stopped and Selah-ed that one. Alright, here’s the last little bit. “The Lord says, I will

guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. Do not be like a

senseless horse or mule that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control. Many sorrows come to the

wicked, but unfailing love surrounds those who trust the Lord. So rejoice in the Lord and be glad all you

who obey him, shout for joy. All you whose hearts are pure.” You know what I was thinking of with the

senseless horse and mule thing? I was thinking, because I think we’ve had these bad fires recently

(Nicole: Oh, yeah) in California, I was thinking of a horse in a stable. And the fire is coming and the

horse is afraid because of all the smoke and stuff. (Right) And they’re not leaving the stable willingly.

They’ve gotta be bridled and hauled out. Right? (Mm-hmm. That’s true.) And the reason they’re being

bridled and hauled out is ’cause it’s for their good, but they don’t know that. (Right) You know, and

they’re kicking the whole time. And God’s like, don’t kick against me like this. I know the best pathway

for your life. Follow it. You can do it willingly or you can kick and tug and get really way laid (Right) on

your way to being good. And we kick when we don’t confess. (Yeah) We hide from him and then we

don’t have the blessing of being with him. We don’t have his guidance and we make a small mess a big

mess. We just do, (We do) especially if we lie or even if we don’t lie, we don’t tell the whole truth. (Right)

right? (Yeah) Because the whole truth would make us look bad. Sometimes we’ve been bad and we need

to look bad because we were bad and we need to just say it.

Nicole:

So we can deal with the consequences.

Sharon:

That’s exactly right.

Nicole:

And move on.

Sharon:

I’m a witness, it doesn’t kill you to say I was terribly wrong and I am sorry. Stunning. I don’t know why

we find that so hard to do because it absolutely ends up being better because we did it.

Nicole:

It does. There’s well, the freedom that comes from it, and back to one of the verses I had read that said

that those whose records the Lord has cleared of guilt, those lives are lived in complete honesty. There’s a

word for that. It’s called congruent or congruency. And when you live in congruency, you’re the same

inside as you are outside.

Sharon:Yes. Yes, yes.

Nicole:

So if you’re speaking about God’s love and you’re serving him or just living your life, if you’re insides are

clear and free and you’ve confessed to God, you’re going to feel so much better. You’re gonna feel settled

because you’re living how God wants you to be.

Sharon:

Exactly.

Nicole:

And you’re living what you’re saying too. Especially if I’m sitting here talking about God’s love and

forgiveness and reading his word. I need to make sure that I am free and clear inside.

Sharon:

Absolutely. Absolutely. And one of the best gifts we can give other humans who are also imperfect and

drive cars into other cars and do awful things, the best gift we can give them is to show our humanity.

Nicole:

Absolutely.

Sharon:

We’re not the big deal.

Nicole:

No. We’re really not.

Sharon:

God is the big deal. So when we come into the light and say, I’m a mess. But God makes me good.

(Nicole: Yes) Then we’re giving him the glory and honor stepping into the light just says, I know. Look at

me. And yet God’s using me. Stunning. Right. (Yep) I think that is so the best way to live. Sometimes we

put on this veneer like, I need to look a certain way so that people will know that God lives in me. (Mm-

hmm( I think it’s better to say, I fail all the time. (Yes) And when I succeed it’s because I’ve yielded to

him.

Nicole:

Absolutely.

Sharon:

I’m only good with him.

Nicole:

Yep.

Sharon:

Right.Nicole:

I think yesterday I read a verse about how God’s light is placed inside of us, but it only shines through

because we’re these fragile jars with cracks in them. And we have to remember God’s light doesn’t shine

through unless we do have (Sharon: Exactly) our weaknesses and flaws. And thankfully we have so many

that he can shine through. A very cracked little pot.

Sharon:

Yes. Yeah. I love it. I really do. So, oh, okay. Well we’ve got some questions to answer as always.

Question number one, what did we learn about asking for forgiveness from this passage? And how do we

apply it to our daily lives? Yeah. I’ll let you go first. I have some answers, but I bet you do too.

Nicole:

So I was thinking like, if I’m feeling down and exhausted, I should try asking for forgiveness. Because

from our passages, he mentions how it affects our bodies too. Our physical bodies.

Sharon:

Oh, that’s interesting.

Nicole:

And our soul. So maybe if I’m feeling kind of like blah and I don’t have a cold and nothing’s really bad

going on, I should try sitting with God and confessing, Hey, is there something in my heart that’s keeping

me from that joy that I experience when I walk with you daily? So I thought that might be good. The

other thing that I learned from this passage was do it quick. And it’s such a beautiful gift he gives us at no

cost to us. It doesn’t cost me anything, but getting rid of my yucky guilt and sin.

Sharon:

Yes. Yes, yeah.

Nicole:

So, and then after that, just rest in the victory over sin that God alone provided again at no cost to me.

Sharon:

Exactly. You know, one of the reasons I think we don’t do it quickly, and that was on my list too, quick, is

because it feels too simple. If I’ve done, you know, if I’ve done something really bad I almost feel I have

to self punish for a bit. And just waltzing into God’s presence and saying, I’m sorry,

Nicole:

It feels like we’re getting off the hook too easy.

Sharon:

Right. So, and yet if it’s a genuine sorrow, it’s that it is easy in the sense that that’s what it takes.

Nicole:

Those are the steps. The steps are simple.

Sharon:It was not easy because Jesus took the wrath I deserved for that awful thing I did on himself. So in that

sense it was extremely hard. (Nicole: Yeah) But it was hard on him. (Right) And so I think we fail him

when we won’t confess and be forgiven ’cause he’s already taken it. (Right) And we’re like, no, no, I know

you took that sin, but I also need to punish myself. (Right) And hang on until I feel sad enough about, you

know, I’m mad enough at myself. I sit in self-condemnation for a while, so I also pay for it. And I mean,

come on, Jesus is like I paid for this. And furthermore, when you sit in condemnation, when you sit

letting the accuser attack you, you are not serving me well. (Right) Right. So Satan likes to keep us in that

place of condemnation because it keeps us from serving God well. (Right. We’re not as effective.) In fact,

we feel so inadequate that sometimes we even stop the good things we’re doing. (Mmm) So it’s so

counterintuitive. We are so used to feeling like there needs to be punishment (Yeah) that we don’t fully

grasp, yes there does. And it has been fully punished. (Yes) You know. (So we don’t need to sit in that.)

Yes. We don’t need to sit in it. You know, it’s kind of like, and I give this example a lot when I talk, you

know, let’s pre pretend that one of my kids doesn’t have enough money for a good car. And they’re a

single parent and they’re trying to get to work in this awful car. So Ray and I both take on second jobs

because we’re gonna buy them the best car ever. And we work two years and we get them a reliable, I

mean it’s, you know, not a Mustang, but it’s a reliable, nice car that’s gonna get them to and from work.

(Yeah) And the day comes and we have the car. We are so excited. I mean, we worked hard for this. We

sweat for this.

Nicole:

We’ve been thinking about this for two years.

Sharon:

And we show them the car and we give them the key and they say, I couldn’t possibly take that. I need to

earn my own car. And we’d be like, are you kidding us? We have a car, we did this for you and now you

won’t even take it.

Nicole:

Wow.

Sharon:

I feel like that’s how Jesus feels sometimes. Are you kidding me? You’re letting Satan beat you up when I

took it. Would you just come to me and let me wash you clean so you can point to what I did for you. So

you can live in freedom, so you can go about God’s business again.

Nicole:

Oh!

Sharon:

Right?

Nicole:

That’s a great illustration. Yeah. Wow.

Sharon:Man! Yeah. So, it’s not simple in that Jesus took it. (Nicole: Right) But it’s simple in we just need to go

him. (Yes) Yeah. That was a very long explanation. Perhaps we should go on to the second question,. But

it’s important.

Nicole:

It is though.

Sharon:

So, okay. What was my favorite verse and why? And I shall go first on this one. Verse two was mine.

“Yes. What joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete

honesty.” My word for the year is actually light.

Nicole:

Oh, I like it.

Sharon:

Yeah. I’m so excited about this word because I’m gonna do, on my Selah days, a study of all the places in

the Bible where God talks about light.

Nicole:

Oh, fun.

Sharon:

Doesn’t that sound fun.

Nicole:

I like that idea.

Sharon:

Except if God tells me on a Selah day not to, because sometimes he does. He says, you’ve studied hard

enough, your mind needs to (Nicole: Yes, yep.) be blank for a bit. So, you know, but otherwise I am

because I’m very excited about it. So, but, my prayer is that I will step into the light this year, both in

letting God examine my heart and show me where I’m failing. (Yeah) And also step into the light with

other people. And I caught myself the other day. I can’t remember what it was, but it was something I did.

Oh, I do know, I know exactly what it was. I’ll tell you what it was. (Alright) Alright. We were trying to

get a grant for our ministry. Yes. And, I was trying to act very professional, of course. (Oh yes.) And I’m

writing with this board member that I had to meet with to do the grant. And I work out the date perfectly,

I think. And I say, you know, I’ve cleared all the calendars and this day would be terrific at 10:30 in the

morning, Nicole, then I looked at my planner again. I was supposed to be in Portsmouth at 10:30 in the

morning and welcoming people to my house, including a guest at 11:00 AM.

Nicole:

Oh, no, that’s not a lot of margin. I don’t think you can do that.

Sharon:

No. So in my mind, I’m drafting how to not tell him it was my fault. Not lying, but not telling himNicole:

Oh, it’s so true. Don’t we do that? We’re like, how do I work this?

Sharon:

Yes. I had all worked out. Something has come up. That is an absolute lie actually, because it had already

come up. So I wrote the truth.

Nicole:

Oh, good for you.

Sharon:

Because of my word the light. And I said I can’t believe it. I went back and looked at the calendar I told

you was free. And it wasn’t, wouldn’t you like to give our ministry money now that you know how I

operate?

Nicole:

I promise I’m more organized.

Sharon:

Oh my goodness. Do you know how it felt afterwards? Free.

Nicole:

Aw, that’s good.

Sharon:

I was living in complete honesty.

Nicole:

Right, right.

Sharon:

And I had to expose my idiocy.

Nicole:

And maybe he chuckled because he has probably done it at least once in his life because he’s human too.

Sharon:

I’m sure he has. We met with him a week later. It ended up being a better meeting time (Nicole: Oh good)

for one of our team members. And it was beautiful.

Nicole:

Oh, that’s great.

Sharon:

So there you go.Nicole:

See.it worked.

Sharon:

A real life example. What was your favorite verse?

Nicole:

I liked the second half of verse four. “Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide

my guilt. I said to myself, I’ll confess my rebellion to the Lord, and you forgave me all my sin, all my

guilt is gone.” So I just love that because it’s such a relief after reading about how horrible the effects of

sin are, uUnconfessed. And then when I finally come to him, I’m just so struck that there’s no anger,

there’s no punishment. Because he’s already paid the punishment for sin. There’s no revenge. He’s not like,

well, you did this. So there’s nothing. There’s just this beautiful forgiveness. There’s only forgiveness.

And I just, I love that verse.

Sharon:

Super. And then real quick, ’cause my goodness, this has flown by. What did we learn from God, about

God from this passage? What did you learn about God?

Nicole:

He is quick to forgive.

Sharon:

Yes.

Nicole:

He is gentle and loving when we come to him for forgiveness.

Sharon:

Yes.

Nicole:

And he continually gives more. We just come to him for forgiveness. And then he gives us this hiding

place and protects us from trouble. Then sings songs of victory over us. Like, wow, I just wanted

forgiveness and I get all this other stuff too. So.

Sharon:

Including songs of victory ’cause we did the right thing.

Nicole:

Right. So beautiful.

Sharon:

Oh my goodness. Yes.

Nicole:What about you?

Sharon:

Yeah. And I wrote, he’s eager to cleanse and forgive. That was one of mine too. He wants us close. Even

when we’ve been bad, he still wants us to come to him.

Nicole:

Isn’t it amazing?

Sharon:

He always wants us close and his ways are best. I don’t wanna be the horse being tugged outta the barn.

So. Well, this was fun. All right. Well, let’s pray. Father, thank you. Thank you for sending your Son, God

in flesh who literally took the punishment we deserve. Thank you for your forgiveness given so freely, so

kindly. Thank you for being our hiding place. Even when we’ve sinned, we can run to you in confession.

We love you Lord. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Nicole:

Thanks for joining us today as we explored asking for forgiveness. How about you? Have you learned the

blessing of running quickly to God and others asking forgiveness and not carrying around the weight of

guilt? We hope this episode has encouraged you to ask forgiveness more freely. We love hearing from our

listeners. You can write us anytime by going to sweetselah.org/podcast. You can donate and we do love

and need donations @sweetselah.org/donations. Join our Podcast Partners by donating and getting our

weekly newsletter. We hope you’ll be back next time for episode 145, Trying to Be Good. Thanks so

much for listening, and have a wonderful day.