There’s an old saying, “an elephant never forgets”. Quite often this saying is applied to human beings and our inability to forget and oftentimes forgive wrongs that have been enacted toward us. Relationships are often a good place to look for examples of this inability to forget or forgive. Many times our experiences in human relationships can spill over into our view of God and how he sees us. Our flawed inability to see beyond negative experiences and forgive are applied to how God interacts with us. This is flawed and is something we must be aware of and try to overcome.

Perhaps it started with our relationship with our parents. We do something wrong and suffer the consequences but quite often the wrong that we have done lingers and impacts the relationship moving forward. Parents may lose a level of trust when a teenage driver makes a mistake and plows into the back of another vehicle because they were found to be texting and driving. Parents, as they should, continue to remind the teenager of the mishap that led to the wreck, in the hopes that they will change their ways. The teenager however may think that sin in their life is similarly something they need to be reminded of in the presence of God-flawed in thought and application.

In Psalms chapter 51 we find David’s plea to God after he has sinned with Bathsheeba. He’s taken another man’s wife for his own and committed adultery and in the midst of the consequences cries out to God to release him from his shame. Psalms 51:7-8 says, “Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me-now let me rejoice.”

David isn’t asking for the consequences of his sin to be taken away, but instead recognizes his wrong and the consequences that must be faced. He does however ask God to restore his joy-for which God will always do. So while our interactions with humans may result in time and time again being reminded of our wrongs, God intends for our brokenness in the midst of suffering consequences to draw us closer to him, restoring our joy. May we rest in knowing that although our sins have consequences, our joy will be restored and our relationship with the Father will forever be without being continually reminded of our wrongs-we stand forgiven.