My wife and I watched a movie not long ago about a dad who took his children camping. During this camping trip his older daughter and son were canoeing in the lake when their boat tipped over. Leaving his youngest daughter at a picnic table where she was coloring pictures, the dad jumped into the water to save his son from drowning.
Being in a camper friendly campground he rushed to the aid of his son not thinking about his youngest daughter facing any danger of her own. To his surprise she was gone when he returned and later found out she had been abducted, abused, and murdered in the process.
This created a great amount of hatred in this father on top of the hatred he had for his father that abused him when he was young. Even though this dad was not a violent person he held on to the guilt of hatred and it affected his relationship with his wife and other children. I can’t say that I blame him even though I haven’t been through either of these situations and hope I never have to face the loss of a child.
This pent up animosity kept him from experiencing the true love due his other family members and created a lot of sleepless nights of his own. He was bothered so much about the loss of his daughter that he felt God wanted him to return to the scene of where he last saw her. Traveling to this place he experienced an automobile wreck which landed him in the hospital for several days. During this stay he was in a coma and dreamt of meeting the triune God in the same place he lost his daughter. It was much different this time as it was a very pleasant place with beautiful flowers all around. It was like what any Christians would imagine Heaven may be like with total calmness, peace, beauty, among the love that only God can provide.
There are many of us walking around in today’s world carrying a bitterness created by the guilt we have because we are unforgiving of the past. I believe all of us can understand the feelings this father had however it was ruining his life and his relationship with the people he loved most. I feel we can all relate to this type situation because all of us have had problems in the past that we cannot find forgiveness for. This is not what God is wanting from us as a Christian and a witness for Him.
Sometimes we go through life with memories that we cannot erase. We have people that have wronged us and it is hard to forgive them but we are told in 1 Peter 4:8, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”
Until we learn to have forgiveness in our heart we will never understand the perfect peace that God wants us to have. Just as this father learned he had to forgive his father for the abuse he endured in his younger years and for the person that abducted and killed his daughter, there would never be contentment in his life. He may never forget the experiences but he did forgive the ones that wronged him. We must all learn to do the same and ask God to heal us and help us with our troubles of the past.
PRAYER
Thank you Lord for forgiving me of my sins. Lord I ask that you lead me and guide me as I go through this life on earth and let me forgive others as you would. Amen.
Suggested Readings
Sunday – Romans 3:21-26
Monday – Isaiah 43:25-26
Tuesday – Matthew 6:14-15
Wednesday – Daniel 9:9
Thursday – Ephesians 4:31-32
Friday – Numbers 14:19-21
Saturday – John 8:7-12
