"When?"

When can God pour blessing,

On one you do not like,

The one whom you’ve forgiven,

And this is not some psyche,

But just an honest question,

‘Cause less you get it straight,

There’s some unfinished business,

And you don’t want to wait.

We try to forgive others,

With God’s help let it go,

Forgive as we’re forgiven,

Trust Him to make it so.

But what about the blessing,

When cancelling their debt,

Will you rejoice when seeing,

His favor on them set.

Or would you like to punish,

For just some while more,

Until they got what they deserved,

‘Cause they hurt you to the core.

Until we hear God ask us,

When will it be okay,

For Me to really bless them,

And now, what do you say?

Every single layer,

Of hurt He will relieve,

Until it doesn’t matter,

At all what they receive.

And if it’s all forgiven,

The debt is so far gone,

It’s like it didn’t happen,

And grace covers their wrong.

So when can God pour blessing,

On one who did you wrong,

Will you say yes to Jesus,

Or postpone peace so long.

“Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others…” (Col. 3:13, NLT)

The Bible says it, not just in one place but in many. We are to forgive as we are forgiven. it is even in the Lord’s prayer. Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those….Inseparably true. I am forgiven by God through Jesus Christ. I don’t deserve it, but He gives it to me. I have freely received it. And now, His word tells me to give it away just as freely. Hard? Yes. Impossible? No. Why? Because God’s grace heals the deepest hurts, and because the forgiveness He gives to you, He will give through you. And even to the point that when the person who hurt you is blessed, you’re totally okay with it. That’s where the peace and freedom are to be found.

Lord, heal every layer of hurt and empower us to forgive, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Mikel Donahue, mikeldonahue.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Mikel, and God bless you.