Have you ever had a time when you felt you had transgressed a significant relationship so much you felt you may not ever be forgiven? I'm sure you relate. There have been possibly a dozen or more times like that in my life.
Conflict is something we cannot get away from in this life. The odds are that we will make such a momentous mistake eventually. I've personally experienced situations in life where I was not, or have not yet been, forgiven.
My heart cried out to God and to the other, 'Is there nothing I can do to redeem this situation?'
That's a desperate heart-cry, isn't it? It's the call for mercy, for some way to be offered a second chance; anything to be granted access to that which we thought we would never lose.
All we really can do is lament in the fashion of Psalm 51. And yet this is precisely where we can be met by God, in experiencing a mercy that runs ahead of any mercy another human being can offer us. For what we have lost, we stand to gain so very much!
Especially as we desire to be cleansed and have our heart renewed, and even as we experience such a spiritual revival, having agonized for the days and weeks, and at times months and years, God intercedes by His Spirit to encourage us for our obedient repentance - no matter what we have done!
God honors our honoring of the truth; He notes our courage; He applauds our faith; He injects us with hope. And He loves us with His love.
If we remain unforgiving, if we sense their anger toward us isn't over, or if we sense our chances for reconciliation are dashed, let us pray and then leave it to God. Then let us be disciplined enough to move forward, ready to recommit to letting go the moment we again take hold.
Let us pray that God's mercy prevails in the person we have offended, and for patients in the meantime.
