All through the Bible, God encourages us to stay away from sin, not because He’s an overbearing rule-maker who demands our unquestioning obedience to His every word, but because of the consequences that follow our decisions. He wants to forgive us and waits to forgive us, but His forgiveness isn’t going to abolish the consequences of our actions. And sometimes those consequences can last a lifetime.
Many times when we ask God to forgive us, what we’re really asking for is to escape the consequences of sin and our decisions. God never promises that escape, only that He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (1 John 1:9).
As we work through the consequences of our sin, we may think God is getting us—that He really hasn’t forgiven us and He’s angry with us. That simply isn’t true. If we’ve asked for forgiveness, confessed and repented of our sin, He has forgiven us. However, that doesn’t mean we’re going to escape the consequences of our actions, just that those actions will not be held to our charge once we’re in Heaven.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 ESV
Bear this in mind also—whatever the consequences, we’re not alone. God hasn’t forgiven us and then left us to face those consequences alone. Jesus stands with us, holding our hands and guiding us as we navigate the consequences. He doesn’t pull out or bail on us just because things get tough. He paid for those sins, He understands them way better than we ever could.
For example: say we get involved in an extramarital affair—think of King David and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11). Afterward, we confess our sin and never do it again. But now there’s a pregnancy issue. Does that mean we haven’t been forgiven by God? Not at all! He is waiting to forgive us. But His forgiveness isn’t going to get us free of the pregnancy predicament. We now have to face up to those consequences, right? David had to confront those same consequences, and he made even more bad decisions, but God never left David to struggle on his own.
Even after David finally confessed and corrected his relationship with God (2 Samuel 12), there was trouble in his house until he died, trouble that probably wouldn’t have been there if he hadn’t made the decisions regarding Bathsheba that he had made.
David was forgiven and God held his hand through the years, but the consequences of his sin followed him.
“The LORD also has put away your sin;”
2 Samuel 12:13 ESV
The same applies to us. Jesus loves us, forgives us, and walks with us, but sometimes there may be situations or consequences that follow us through our lives because of choices we make. And where is Jesus as those consequences rise up against us? He’s with us, holding our hands, using these situations to strengthen us, encourage us, and grow our trust in Him. He can use the very consequences of our sin to teach us who He is!
Know Jesus has forgiven you and He continues to walk with you.