Many times, we allow life’s struggles to overwhelm us. When this happens, we find all sorts of reasons to condemn ourselves. Self-condemnation seduces us to extrapolate that God is trying to teach us something with pain and suffering. This could never be further from the truth of who God is. God forgives you and He promised to never again condemn you.
Whenever life does not go according to our plans, we blame God for things He is not responsible for. When we lose a loved one to death, we say God took our loved one home to be with Him. When diagnosed with a disease, we assume God is using illness to teach us a lesson. We assume God causes misery to teach us a lesson when we make mistakes. Friends, these are lies from the devil. God forgives you. Satan makes us condemn ourselves. He uses self-condemnation to make us think God is condemning us.
I have a friend who divorced her drug-addicted husband. After many years they both remarried. In time, God delivered her ex-husband from drug addiction and turned his life around. Meanwhile, my friend started experiencing problems in her marriage. Things were not working out the way she planned.
One day my friend asked, “Do you think God is trying to teach me a lesson for divorcing my husband?” I reassured her that God would never do something like that to teach her a lesson. I said, “God forgives you and God is not angry with you. He loves you and He would never use pain and misery to discipline you.”
God Turns a Blind Eye to Your Sin
Before the cross, under the Old Covenant of the Law, God imputed the penalty for sin on the sinner. To be forgiven, that person was required to make a sacrifice. That sacrifice was the blood of an innocent bull, ram, or lamb. The sacrifice, who had nothing at all to do with the sin.
Therefore, God is righteous in forgiving you and me. At the cross, God imputed the penalty for our sins on Jesus. Jesus did not sin, rather He became the innocent sacrifice for our sins. In addition, He wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
On this side of the cross, God is not angry with us, nor does He condemn us for our sins. The Bible says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1), Sin’s ransom was paid once and forever. In the place of His anger, God gave us grace—his unmerited favor. Friends, God forgives you and He is not angry with you and He will never be angry with you for God Himself says,
‘For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,’ says the Lord, who has mercy on you.
Isaiah 54:9-10
God Buried the Hatchet, the Debt Is Paid
On this side of the cross, God is no longer angry with you. He does not condemn you. God forgives you. How do we know God forgives? Because Christ paid the sin debt in full, once and forever. No longer angry with us, God gave us grace — His unmerited favor, and peace — the everlasting peace of Jesus.
But why would God make such a promise to us? The answer is Jesus! Isaiah 53 speaks of God’s Son, His birth as a man, His suffering and death, and why He died such an agonizing death on the cross. God said it please Him to crush His Son, to offer Him as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. What happened at the cross, demonstrated the love of our heavenly Father.
No More Condemnation
The next time you fall short of the glory of God, remember, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Therefore, do not tell yourself, nor should you allow anyone to tell you that God is angry with you, or that He is trying to teach you something through your misfortune. God swore by Himself, that He will never be angry with you. He exhausted His anger in His Son on the cross. God does not condemn you. He loves you. If you trust God, He will deliver you. “For God so loved the world, that He gave (offered up as a sacrifice for sin) His only begotten Son (Jesus), that whoever believes in Him (Jesus) shall not perish (die for his sin) but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16). The reason we love God is that He first loved us (1 John 4:19).