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HERE are things we want to remember forever and always (vs. 24-26, 32 & 35). Then there are other things that we want to (and need to) forget. The same is true with God. He will never forget His promises to His people (Psalm 12:5-7 & Hebrews 10:23), but on the other hand, He guarantees that He will forget our sins (vs. 17). In this context, forgetting is the most wonderful thing imaginable.
There is still a problem though. While God is willing to cast our sins behind His back; to remove us completely from the presence of our guilt (Psalm 103:12), on our own, we can't forget our guilt (Psalm 51:3). Under the Old Testament system of repeated sacrifices, the reminders of guilt were part of the religious routine (Hebrews 10:3). Obviously, if we are to have complete spiritual victory, there had to be some way that was better than that. Living without consciousness of past sins would certainly be a key to spiritual happiness and personal peace, as well as godly fellowship. But how do we reach this lofty goal? It seems impossible. Yet, a full application and a full understanding of God's forgiveness can certainly clear a guilty conscience. Knowing that we have truly been absolved of all of our guilt; that we have nothing to fear even in God's holy presence, and that we are fully accepted by Christ – these realities are powerful and permanent. Hebrews 10:12 & 14-18 teaches us that through Christ we have both real forgiveness and the abiding feeling of being forgiven. The Holy Spirit resides within us convincing us of our acceptability in Christ.
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