Praying To ForgiveExemple

DAY TWO: Responding to Hurt and Betrayal Are you suffering today? Have you been betrayed? Have you faced injustice? Are you bearing the pain of abuse and brutality? God’s Word is full of real-life stories of people inflicting pain on others. Throughout the Old and New Testaments we read time and again of betrayal, injustice, brutality, and abuses carried out, often, I might mention, against God’s people. When we are betrayed, it is a trial like no other. I have experienced the hurt of betrayal. It is a pain sometimes like no other, and some of you were betrayed long before you became a Christian. Your little feet hit the floor, and before you got to be five, you were betrayed. Your pathway became less sure; your steps became feeble. The act of betrayal or abuse became a very, very difficult place for you—like a large hole that swallowed you up, and to this day you still have not been able to climb out. So how do you get out of that hole? How do you get past the pain and get to a healthy place where you are walking in the love, peace, and joy of Christ? The answer is found in one word: forgiveness. When Jesus was dying on the cross, He prayed to His heavenly Father. Guess what? He didn’t pray that God would seek revenge on His persecutors. He didn’t call down fire and brimstone to kill those who had betrayed and abused Him. He did something that would forever change the world and show the heart of God: Jesus asked God to forgive those who hurt and betrayed and would kill Him—to not charge them with this offense but rather forgive them. And then with that still, small voice—filled with love and grace—Jesus said, “They know not what they do” (Luke 23:34, KJV).