This is a testimony, a covenant promise from God that although we are what we are, God is who God is too.
Every new year, hope springs eternal about the prospect of starting over, at least for the first few days. Eventually, “making all things new” feels like another task that only causes us to feel worse about ourselves, with the mantra “another year, another you” proving itself false yet again. There within the act of all things becoming new is the idea that we, though undoubtedly made new by the work of Christ, still retain so much of ourselves which we can never undo entirely. Aches remain, both the physical and emotional kinds. The weaknesses of last year did not automatically become strengthened. The same things that was bothered us in late December haven’t suddenly stopped. All of that hope of improvement and change comes face to face with reality - you are what you are.
Amid the many promises of God in Scripture, there is one that leaves me more hopeful than the others:
“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” - Lamentations 3:22-23
This is a testimony, a covenant promise from God that although we are what we are, God is who God is too. His love does not cease. His mercies never stop coming. His faithfulness is assured.
This is an especially comforting thing to know when we think of the act of forgiveness. True forgiveness of another person is one of the greatest challenges for the Christian, and one of the most potent reminders that we, despite our best intentions, are not free to simply start anew when the calendar turns. One of the greatest doubts Christians face is the doubt that God could truly forgive them for what they have done. I know that I personally struggle with forgiving others because I cannot comprehend how I have been forgiven. This challenge to forgive deeply affects our relationships with our fellow man, and with God.
The story of Joseph in the book of Genesis is one of the most powerful displays of forgiveness in the Bible. Joseph is the favored son of his father, Jacob, and his loud proclamations of his dreams in which his brothers bow to him irritate them so much that they sell him to Midianite traders as a slave - a less savage alternative to their true desire, which was to just kill him. But Joseph is a faithful and upright servant, and through his faithfulness and skill, he rises to become a very highly ranked official in Egypt. The “new” Joseph, unbeknownst to his own brothers, becomes an agent that not only can save them from starvation, but can also be the one to issue them forgiveness for the horrific sin they committed against him.
Most of the focus on the Joseph story is given to how his rise to power is a means of God preserving not only the people of Israel (Abraham’s great grandchildren and all their future descendents) but much of the world through Joseph’s careful planning - a position he achieved only by initially being sold as a slave to Egypt by his wicked brothers. “What you meant for evil, God meant for good” is Joseph’s declaration upon the revelation of his true identity to his brothers.
But perhaps the more important lesson for us to take from the story is that the complete fulfillment of Joseph’s dream about his brothers’ bowing down (Gen 37:5-10) doesn’t happen until they ask for forgiveness. When he tells them about the dream as a boy, they cannot imagine a situation where this can be fulfilled in reality. “He’s just a kid,” you can practically hear them say, “with a big mouth and a fancy coat. What is he ever going to do to make us bow down to him?” But God has done the unimaginable, and by the end of Genesis, Joseph is in a position to do his brothers harm or good - to forgive or not forgive. Joseph, we discover, could forgive because he trusted God and he could see what God had taught him through the situation.
One temptation for the Christian is to short change the opportunity for forgiveness by excusing the sin. We are especially good at this with our own sins. In an essay entitled, “On Forgiveness”, C.S. Lewis commented that this isn’t an option. “Excusing someone says they weren’t really to blame. But if they weren’t, there is nothing to forgive.” He offers a corrective for our own repentance. If we go away from God “imagining that we have repented and been forgiven when all that has really happened is that we have satisfied ourselves with our own excuses”, then we cannot feel the relief that comes from true forgiveness. He concludes: “Real forgiveness means looking steadily at the sin...and seeing it in all its horror, dirt, meanness, and malice, and nevertheless, being wholly reconciled to the man who has done it.” Joseph could choose to forget the sin of his brothers, or excuse it. But he doesn’t do either of those. He chooses to look at what has been done to him by his brothers, and see it as ordained by God for the good of his family and for the world, and then offer them full forgiveness.
This is why it is so critical to not approach the opportunity to be forgiven with our own excuses in mind by trying to let ourselves off the hook. We stand before the one who knows everything about us, even what we try to hide from those around us, and He still promises us forgiveness. He stands ready to release us and we try to convince Him (and ourselves) that we aren’t hooked whatsoever. We don’t need to wallow in our sin, but we often fail to take it as seriously as we should. Ultimately, our reconciliation with God cannot happen until we, the miserable offenders, recognize the depth our offenses, and confess them to the Father. In every act of confession we are being made new by the forgiveness of God. His grace slowly, silently, faithfully, works in the background to renew our hearts and our souls.
Which leads us to the end: reconciliation cannot be complete until the offended person offers full forgiveness. When you confess your sins against God and neighbor - especially the sins that you continually confess and cannot seem to stop - this promise remains: He is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all our unrighteousness (I John 1:9). What a glorious thought this is! Though we have offended Him, He reconciles us to Himself through the blood of Christ on the cross, so that each time we go to Him, we can grow closer to Him and become more and more reconciled. He offers us forgiveness freely, and He begs us to come, and there we find our rest and reconciliation (Matthew 11:28-29).