Forgiveness, Grace, and FreedomSample

God’s Provision for Daily Forgiveness

How am I supposed to forgive if there’s still a well of anger bottled inside of me? How do I stop the spread of unforgiveness from damaging my life?

Forgiveness needs to be exercised and managed. What does this look like? It doesn’t mean forgiving in advance for the next twenty years. That’s impossible. Rather, managing forgiveness means waking up and saying, “Just for today I choose forgiveness.” Tomorrow you do the same thing. “Just for today…”

I’ve noticed that when other people mess up, we call on God’s justice, but when we mess up, we’re a big fan of His mercy. We judge ourselves by our intentions and other people by their actions. Our standard should be uniform all the way around.

He reminded me of the Israelites gathering manna. They didn’t understand how God worked. He wanted to teach them a principle by having them wake up every day and come look for His provision—and for Him. They wanted to keep trusting and relying on their own strength, which took them into fear and greed, and they went out to gather more than they needed for that day. It never worked—the extra manna became full of worms after one day (or two days when it was the Sabbath; see Exodus 16:4-35).

Why wouldn’t God let them gather for weeks in advance? It was a principle: every day we have to choose God again. Every day we come to Him for provision, for relationship, or for whatever we need. So many of us want to plot our path through the pain. God wants us to wake up every day and trust Him for that day. Tomorrow you do the same thing. The day after do the same thing. His mercies are new every morning. The Bible says that today is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2), meaning we should live in the now. Jesus said each day has enough trouble of its own, so don’t worry about tomorrow (Matt. 6:34). It’s a process of learning to lean on God, a mental pattern and a lifestyle we must develop.