19 I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
in love and compassion. Hosea 2:19 (NIV)
Have you ever heard of selective hearing? That’s when people hear only what they want to. It happens all the time. I can preach one thing and people hear something quite different. They hear what they wanted me to say. It often comes back to me, “It’s like what you said that one time in your message, Pastor…” And for the life of me I can’t imagine ever saying it. Selective hearing.
I don’t think selectiveness is only found in hearing. I think we can have selective seeing, selective thinking, and selective memories--choosing to remember only what we want. Some of us are great at that to a fault. We remember all the bad someone’s done and overlook the good they’ve done. Some of us need to do a better job of remembering all the good someone has done--it’s having positive selective memories.
God has positive selective memories with those of us who confess our sins. I thank Him for it. God doesn’t say here, "I will forgive her;" "I will restore her;" "I will receive her back again;" "I will again show her love and tenderness." Even though these things would have been done also, but He says here much more. He blots out, forgets, abolishes all memory of the past, and He speaks only of the future, of the new betrothal, as if it were the first of a pure virgin. In this betrothal, God would make her wholly His, and become wholly hers.
Questions to consider:
Why is it good that God chooses to forget some things about us?
What must I do so that God forgets my sins?
Why do we struggle forgetting the sins we commit?
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