OUR NEED TO FORGIVE GOD
By Erwin Bourne

“There is only one cure for the cancer of bitterness. That is to forgive the perceived offender once and
for all, with God’s help. As strange as it seems, I am suggesting that some of us need to forgive God for those heartaches that are charged to His account. You’ve carried resentment against Him for years. Now it’s time to let go of it.

“A thousand unanswered questions have been recycling in your mind. You want desperately to trust the Father and believe in His grace and goodness. But, deep inside, you’re held captive by a sense of betrayal and abandonment. The Lord obviously permitted your difficulties to occur. And why hasn’t He attempted to explain or apologize for them.”

The above was written by Dr. James Dobson in his book, WHEN GOD DOESN’T MAKE SENSE. Most of the following paragraphs are also by this author. He continues, “Please don’t misunderstand me at this point. God is in the business of forgiving us, and it almost sounds blasphemous to suggest that the relationship could be reversed.”

THE CORRIE TEN BOOM STORY

Dobson suggests that the late Corrie Ten Boom would have understood the advice given above. She and her family were sent by the Nazis to an extermination camp at Ravensbruck, Germany, during the later years of World War II. They suffered horrible cruelty and deprivation at the hands of S.S.guards and, ultimately, only Corrie survived.

After the war, she became a celebrated author and
spoke often on the love of God and His intervention in her life. She was still bitter at the Nazis for what they had done to herself and her family. Two years after the war, Corrie was speaking in Munich, Germany, on the subject of God’s forgiveness. After the service, she saw a man making his way toward her. This is what she would write about that encounter:

“One moment I saw the overcoat and the brown hat; but the next, a blue uniform and a visored cap with its skull and crossbones. It came back in a rush: the huge room with its harsh overhead lights; the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the floor; the shame of walking naked past this man! …The place was Ravensbruck…and the man had been a guard—one of the most cruel guards. Now he was in front of me, hand thrust out. ‘A fine message Fraulein! How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!’

Corrie’s words have great relevance for us at this point. “And I, who had spoke so glibly about forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook rather than take that hand. He would not remember me of course—but I remembered him and the short crop swinging from his belt. I was face to face with one of my captors and my blood seemed to freeze. ‘You mentioned Ravensbruckin your talk,’ he was saying. I was a guard there.’

‘But since that time,’ he went on, ‘I have become a
Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear from your lips, as well, Fraulein’,--again the hand came out—‘will you forgive me?’ And I stood there—I whose sins had again and again to be forgiven—and could not forgive. It could not have been many seconds that he stood there—hand held out—as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever to do. I had to do it.

“Since the end of the war, I had had a home in Holland for victims of Nazi brutality. Those who were able to forgive their former enemies were able to return to the outside world and rebuild their lives. Those who nursed their bitterness remained invalids. It was as simple and horrible as that. And still I stood therewith the coldness clutching my heart. But forgivenes sis not an emotion—I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperatures of the heart.

“And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bring tears to my eyes. ‘I forgive you, brother,’ I cried. ‘With all my heart.’ I had never known God’s love so intensively as I did then.”

by Erwin Bourne
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