Psalm 103

As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

(Psalms 103:12)

This is one of my favorite verses in all of scripture. I love it because it helps us to understand that God’s forgiveness is not conditional or partial like ours is. When I forgive people, it often has strings attached… maybe it’s conditioned on their ability to keep repeating the sin, or accompanied with a commitment to “never forget”. This is not the way that God deals with sin that is perpetrated against Him.

We read here that God has removed our transgressions from us. He has forgiven us, and in so doing, He has taken our sins, and completely removed them. They are no longer connected to us! Now if I was God, I would probably file them a way in some sort of heavenly storage unit, where I could pull them out from time to time to threaten the sinner and keep him in line.

This is not what God does… he puts them as far away from us as possible, as far as “east is from west”. This is a really cool word picture, because “east” and “west” aren’t actual places. There isn’t a set mileage, like, “travel 9000 miles and you’ll get to the sin”. East and West never meet. They are INFINITELY separate. Notice, God didn’t say “north” and “south”. That would have been a calculable distance. Instead, He chose to use a metaphor that couldn’t be computed! Why? Because God wanted us to realize something very important; When He forgives, it’s FOREVER.

Rejoice today in this glorious truth… your sins have been taken care of COMPLETELY and ETERNALLY!