When God Throws Your Iniquities Into the Sea of Forgetfulness, There’s No Need to go Deep Sea Fishing
“Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean!”
Michah 7:19 NLT
Have you ever felt discouraged by your imperfect past or beat yourself up for the sins you’ve committed?
Do you keep a mental note of all your mistakes and live in regret?
I’ve been there and I’d like to encourage your heart with some Bible-based truth.
When we ask God to forgive us, He does and then He forgets our sins for His “own sake,” says Isaiah 43:25.
The prophet Micah describes Him throwing our sins “into the depths of the ocean.” God also tells us that our “sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 10:17).
Years ago, I heard a pastor say that when God throws our iniquities into the “sea of forgetfulness,” we need to leave them there and not go “deep-sea fishing”.
He said that too often we set sail and reach into the depths of the ocean, pulling up each of our sins that God forgot. We remind Him of the things we’ve done, then ask Him for forgiveness all over again.
However, we must ignore the enemy’s lies and evil prompts to wallow in our past sins, mistakes, and failures.
We need to trust God and take Him at His Word.
When God says He forgives our sins, we can believe that, stop condemning ourselves for our wrongdoing, and have faith that God loves us and isn’t punishing us.
God disciplines those who He loves (Hebrews 12:6), but He doesn’t want to punish us for the rest of our lives.
While there are consequences to our sins, there’s also hope in knowing that our God forgave us and loves us.
He wants us to walk in freedom and focus on following Him with our whole hearts. I know that it’s not easy.
The enemy reminds me every day of everything I did or said wrong and often I’m saddened. I judge myself for not being perfect.
The reality is that no human is completely perfect! But we have a Savior who already paid the price for our sins (John 3:16). All we must do is trust and follow Him all the days of our life.
God ministered to me years ago saying that He’s not looking for perfect Christians; He’s looking for faithful ones.
Though He is merciful and forgiving, it’s not an excuse to continue sinning.
He expects us to turn away from our sins and live for Him, instead of following the ways of this world. Romans 12:2 says we are to “renew” our minds and know His will for our life here on Earth.
It can be difficult to ignore accusations from the enemy. But we need to focus on Jesus Christ who defeated our adversary and is victorious over all.
Let’s put our hope in Him and not let our sins weigh us down. We can remember that God has forgiven us every time we ask Him, then turn away from our sins.
Finally, we need to resist the urge to go deep sea fishing.
For more inspiration, check out this song by Helen Baylor called “Sea of Forgetfulness”.
