Micah 7:19

It is as if God will put his foot down hard on all his people’s *sins. It is as if he will throw their *sins into the deep sea. Then he will not see their *sins any longer. He will not remember their *sins any longer (Jeremiah 31:34). He will do that because he loves his children. He has pity on them. He is kind to them. Those *sins will not cause trouble to his people any longer. God has forgiven them completely. Perhaps Micah was thinking about the time when God led the *Israelites out of Egypt. Then, God threw the army from Egypt into the sea. So God overcame their enemies (Exodus 15:4-5). And then *Israel’s people started a new journey into the future. So, as a nation, they started to live in a new way.

Some time after this event, God met with Moses in a special way. There are different explanations of God’s name (‘the *LORD’). God gave a new explanation to Moses. This was it:

‘The *LORD is a kind God. He does not become angry quickly. He is full of great love. You can trust the *LORD. He is kind to thousands of people. He forgives people for the wrong things that they do. But the *LORD does not forget to punish guilty people. Their children, their grandchildren and their grandchildren’s children will suffer because of what the parents have done’ (Exodus 34:6-7).

God wants to show his love to his people. He forgives *sin. He can forgive all wrong deeds. But people must not be proud. They must confess their *sins to God. The *New Testament teaches that Jesus’ death is the only remedy for *sin. So if we want God to forgive us, we must invite Jesus into our lives.

v20 You will do the things that you promised to Jacob. You will show the kindness that you promised to Abraham. You promised this to our *ancestors. That was a long time ago.