- Forgiveness
Psalm 130:4
But there is forgiveness with thee,
That thou mayest be feared.
The promise of forgiveness is basic to our understanding of God and our relationship to Him. Because there is forgiveness with God He can be loved, trusted, believed, worshiped, adored, praised and thanked…and feared. This is one of those verses that help us understand the meaning of “fearing God.” Fear obviously does not mean here “be afraid, be cringing in fear of punishment and eternal judgment.” It is the forgiveness of the Lord that enables and encourages fear of God. This is an unexpected and impossible connection: something is amiss, and what is amiss is our common misunderstanding of fear.
When it comes to our faith and love relationship with the true and living God forgiveness is the basis of it; it is also the cause. We sinners would not be able to repent and believe unless we had some assurance ahead of time that there would be forgiveness with God. I can only admit guilt and confess sin if I can expect some beneficial result to ensue.
God begins and ends everything; He initiates and finishes our life and our eternal relationship with Him. Forgiveness is the beginning: “God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance” [Romans 2:4]. Next, God grants repentance and faith; this is, in turn, forgiveness and salvation, returning us again to God who started us.
“Fear of God” = faith without doubt, love without insincerity, hope without disappointment. After God grants forgiveness and its resultant fear we are bold to pray and expect answers, but, more than that, we are bold to claim all the promises that are conditioned upon the fear of the Lord, most recently seen in Psalm 128. If we know we are forgiven, then we know we fear God, and then we know we possess and enjoy the promises given to God-fearers. But first, and last, we believe in the promise of forgiveness with thee.