The God Who Pardons

Right now you may be waging a losing war against some kind of temptation. Whatever your struggle is, you’ve determined not to run away from the Lord. You refuse to give yourself over to sin’s grasp. Instead, you’ve taken God’s Word to heart.

However, like David, you’ve grown weary. Now you’ve come to a point where you feel absolutely helpless. The enemy is flooding you with despair and lies.

Your testing may become even more mystifying and unexplainable, but I want you to know that no matter what you’re going through, the Holy Ghost wants to reveal “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:18-19, NKJV).

How is our Lord distinguished from all the other gods worshipped throughout the world? Of course, we know our God is above all others, set apart in every way; but one clear way we know the Lord to be distinguished from others is by his name: the God who pardons. Scripture reveals our Lord as the God who forgives, the only God who has the power to pardon sin.

We see this name of God confirmed throughout the scriptures. Nehemiah declared, “But you are God, ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abundant in kindness, and did not forsake them” (Nehemiah 9:17).

Moses asked the Lord for a revelation of his glory. He wasn’t allowed to see God’s face, but the Lord did reveal his glory to Moses through a revelation of his name. “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Exodus 34:6–7).

David gives us the same Hebrew description of God when he wrote, “For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon you” (Psalm 86:5).

Our God does not abandon us in our struggles. He is standing ready to forgive and bring us back to him.