Water.
It was an essential component of daily life when I was growing up.
Outdoor activities in Florida usually involved swimming, skiing, boating, fishing, or scuba diving. It seems we were always in a lake, river, spring, or the ocean.
I especially love the ocean.
Gazing through gin-clear water at colorful sea life is mesmerizing.
I am still fascinated with the ocean, islands, and this remarkable part of the planet called Florida.
My appreciation for the ocean shifted when I was 20 years old.
A newly certified scuba instructor, I traveled to dive the exceptional waters of Bimini, Bahamas.
I was captivated by the tropical beauty, the exceptional clarity of the water, and the flourishing sea life.
We spent days diving the shallow reefs and evenings refueling with delicious seafood.
The day before departing I experienced a characteristic of the ocean I had not encountered in my youthful adventures.
It was majesty and mystery interwoven in silence.
I ventured far from the dive group, and what I saw altered my view of the sea. My sentiments of an exciting playground changed to a healthy reverence for this ancient and powerful entity called the sea.
I was drifting in 80 feet of water and ascended to check my distance from the other divers.
The others were only 50 yards away, so I submerged again.
As I descended I flooded my mask to clear the fog.
Once clear, I refocused, drew a deep breath on the regulator, turned, and saw it.
I was speechless and motionless.
The azure blue of the shallow reef quickly darkened below me into the inky black abyss of the Gulf Stream dropping to a depth of 6,000 feet.
I was overwhelmed by the vastness of the sea.
Huge, and deep – astonishingly deep.
The experience left an indelible impression on me.
Several years later, that impression came streaming to my mind when I read the words penned by the prophet Micah.
The Spirit of God guided him to metaphorically describe what God does with our sins.
You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Micah 7:19
Micah wrote 700 years before Jesus walked the earth.
In his day, there were no submarines, no scuba diving masks enabling you to see below the surface.
You must grasp the magnitude of this.
In Micah’s day, when something was “cast into the depths of the sea,” it was considered gone, never to be seen again – irretrievable.
Did you get that?
Irretrievable.
Let that sink in a moment.
Irretrievable.
But isn’t God omniscient?
Of course.
In fact, He is eternally omniscient.
He knows all things from eternity past and eternity future–all at the same time!
So, why use a metaphor like this to describe what God does with our sins?
He considers them gone.
The prophet Jeremiah helps us understand by quoting God:
“I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jeremiah 31:34
You see, God is stooping to accommodate us, so we can process the magnitude of His forgiveness cognitively and emotionally.
He chooses to not remember your sins.
Like casting them into the canyon of the Gulf Stream, He considers them gone.
He does not retrieve them to hold against you.
Why?
God wants you to experience the privilege of enjoying Him.
Sin creates a separation between you and God. (Isaiah 59:1,2)
Jesus provided the only way to remove your sin and maintain his justice through an incomprehensible sacrifice.
May I ask you a question that may surprise you?
If God doesn’t retrieve your sins to remind you of them – should you?
Don’t retrieve memories of your sin.
Repent, rejoice, and then reorient.
Retrieve the memory of Jesus and the depth of His love for you.
If this brief story helped you understand God’s forgiveness, please share it with someone who needs to better understand the extent of God’s grace.
Do you have a similar type of story about one of God’s attributes?
I’d love to hear your thoughts or questions on this story. Please leave your comments below. Thanks!
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