What he chooses to remember

Ever thought God was a meanie? Unfair, unloving, unkind. Punishing us for even the most minor of infractions. Ignoring our tears. Ignoring our cries for help. Yup, that’s God summed up in a nutshell, or is it?

I think God deserves a break, and here’s why. Have you ever thought about what God forgets and what he chooses to remember? If you haven’t ever really considered it, allow me to let scripture shed some light on the subject.

Let’s start with what God forgets. Our sin.

^{Psalm 103:11} For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
   so great is his love for those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west,
   so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

Doesn’t sound so mean or unfair to me. Sounds kind of good actually. Like something I don’t really deserve. You may have read this one before and felt comforted and encouraged to know that God’s love is as big as it gets. It’s helped me, but up until a recent lesson in a bible study by Beth Moore, I hadn’t thought too much about just how complete God’s forgiveness is. Then I came across a verse that literally awed me.

^{Micah 7:19} You will again have compassion on us;
   you will tread our sins underfoot
   and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

God’s a meanie, huh? Really? The one who hurls our sins into the depths of the sea: never thinking about them, never holding a grudge, never deep sea diving for them. It’s almost like he forgets about them, or rather, in Christ, he chooses to forget them.

So, what does God decide to remember? Our tears. A few years back, I stumbled across this verse in the book of Psalms;

^{Psalm 56:8} You keep track of all my sorrows.^[a]
      You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
      You have recorded each one in your book.

At that time in my life, things were pretty tough, and, like most of you, I shed a lot of tears that seemed to go unnoticed. But when I came across this verse, it was like balm to my soul. God records each one of my tears? Wow. What a mind blowing thought; the God of the universe knows and records every single tear I’ve ever shed? He collects them. Like a priceless treasure.

Why, why would he do that? Because the most important choice God makes when it comes to his creation is love. He loves us. Plain and simple. He hates that we hurt. He hates that we cry. And, in his almighty goodness, he chooses to remember our tears. Just so we don’t think he doesn’t care. Just so we don’t think he isn’t with us.

^{Revelation 7:17} For the Lamb at the center of the throne
   will be their shepherd;
‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’^[a]
   ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’^[b]”

Did you catch that? Not some. Not a few. Not most. Every. Every tear will be wiped away from our eyes, mine, yours, God sees them all. He cares about them all.

I’ll admit it is easy to think that God is mean. It is. But, hopefully, today you’ve gained a little perspective. Remember these two simple yet important things: God chooses to forget our sins, God chooses to collect our tears. And when we come home to heaven, he is prepared to wipe each and every one of them away.