Psalm 86:5
For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.
One of the encouraging statements God makes is that He is ready to forgive. God does not have to work Himself up to forgive, but He is prepared to forgive once we do wrong. In fact, God is more ready to forgive than He is to judge. Don't get me wrong, God will punish sin, but He would rather forgive than punish.
Let me illustrate God’s readiness to forgive. God declared judgment on Nineveh and was ready to destroy the city. However, though God was ready to judge this city, He was more ready to forgive them. He was so ready to forgive that He gave them one last chance to get right by sending Jonah to preach to them with a hope that they could come to Him. God immediately forgave them when they repented and withheld His judgment because He was ready to forgive.
The story of the prodigal son comes to mind when the son went and wasted his inheritance on riotous living. The inheritance was the hard-earned money that his father had earned, and this prodigal wasted what his father gave his life to earn. However, when the son got right, the father was ready to forgive and received his son back.
The more you are like God, the more ready you will be to forgive those who have wronged you. The more you let the flesh control you, the more ready you will be not to forgive someone who has wronged and shamed you. How can one be ready to forgive? The Scriptures give us that key. Let me share how you can be ready to forgive.
First, you must have plenty of mercy. You will never be ready to forgive if you don’t have plenty of mercy. Mercy is not giving someone what they deserve. Mercy always gives way to forgiveness. Without having a storage of mercy in your character, you will be more ready to punish and be inflexible with the one who does wrong. When you have plenty of mercy, you would rather forgive the one who does wrong than to destroy them with your unforgiveness.
Second, you must accept that people are human. The word ready means God accepted that we are human, and that is why He is ready to forgive. Psalm 78:39 says, For he remembered that they were but flesh;… The reservoir of God’s mercy is full because He understands we are flesh, and flesh makes mistakes. You will never build your reservoir of mercy so you can be ready to forgive if you don't remember that everyone is flesh, which means everyone will do you wrong at times.
Third, you must prepare yourself to forgive. When you realize people are flesh, you can expect people to do you wrong. In other words, you are waiting for the wrong to happen so you can forgive. You know someone will wrong you, so you are prepared that when they wrong you that you will forgive no matter how deep the wrong will hurt.
Fourth, you must forgive as you would want others to forgive you. You can build your reservoir of mercy by reminding yourself that you have wronged others, and they forgave you, so the least you can do is to be a forgiving person. When your reservoir of mercy is full is when you will be more ready to forgive than to destroy with bitterness toward the one who has wronged you.
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