Day 194 – Forgiveness

Proverbs 22:15 Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; the rod of correction will drive it far from him.

• God’s names:
• YAHWEH/JEHOVAH – Self-existent, Eternal
• Ra’ah – Friend, Companion, Pastor, Shepherd
• Elohiym – Supreme God
• Yeshuwa/Iesous – Jesus
• Christos – Anointed One, Messiah
• Kurios – Supreme Authority
• Theos – Supreme Divinity
• Soter – Savior
• Pater/Abba – Father

• God’s character:
• Wisdom
• Love
• Teacher
• Protector
• Provider
• Mercy
• Grace
• Peace
• Forgiver
• Faithful
• Slow to Anger
• Righteous

When you were young and received punishment from your parents, they often said, “This will hurt me, more than it does you.” As a child you did not understand how the punishment they gave you could hurt them more. However, as an adult, you understood what they meant. Punishment was not to harm but to teach.

Solomon knew that every child tests their boundaries. I’m also certain he tested them himself, so he spoke from experience when he said the rod of correction would drive foolishness from a child’s heart. Only fools never learned from the punishment they received.

Solomon was also aware of the Law. He saw how YAHWEH protected His children through the many laws, He gave them. They were the rod, not of His wrath, but of His love.

Psalm 23:1 (A Psalm of David.) YAHWEH is my Ra’ah; I will not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. 3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. 6 Surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of YAHWEH forever.

YAHWEH’S Word comforts, protects, and gives nourishment. You have no need for anything when YAHWEH is your protector.

Most people when they think about the Bible, they see only the wrath of Elohiym. The Ten Commandments have more “Thou shalt nots, than thou shalt. They see the commandments as a strict taskmaster that only punishes. They fail to read the whole law to see how much YAHWEH loves them.

When you became a Christian and started reading the Bible, did you skip over the books of the Law? Were you afraid of the consequences of disobedience because you saw the law as harsh and unforgiving?

Psalm 119:1 ALEPH. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of YAHWEH! 2 Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart! 3 They also do no iniquity; they walk in His ways. 4 You have commanded us to keep Your precepts diligently. 5 Oh, that my ways were directed to keep Your statutes! 6 Then I would not be ashamed, When I look into all Your commandments. 7 I will praise You with uprightness of heart, when I learn Your righteous judgments. 8 I will keep Your statutes; oh, do not forsake me utterly!

YAHWEH is only a harsh taskmaster when you disobey Him. When you obey Him, He blesses you, and you see how much He loves you.

When you think of Yeshuwa, do you see Him as a harsh taskmaster? No. Why? Because you see Yeshuwa as a baby in a manger, meek and mild. You see Him dying on the cross taking your sins away. You don’t see His wrath unless you look at the money changers in the temple when he took a whip to them for buying and selling on the temple porch. You saw justice in what He did, and you congratulated yourselves that you never felt His wrath. However, Yeshuwa is YAHWEH. He still punishes disobedience.

Romans 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law, sin was dead. 9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. 12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. 13 Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If then, I do what I will not do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of Theos according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank Theos—through Iesous Christos our Kurios! So then, with the mind I serve the law of Theos, but with the flesh the law of sin.

You are a sinner. You sin every day. It is only through confession and repentance that you know Yeshuwa’s forgiveness.

Hebrews 12:4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of YAHWEH, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; 6 For whom YAHWEH loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.” 7 If you endure chastening, Theos deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. will we not much more readily be in subjection to the Pater of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

When you read through the Law, you see YAHWEH’S love, grace, mercy, and peace. When you obey Yeshuwa, you see the same thing — grace, mercy, peace, and forgiveness. Therefore, when you disobey Yeshuwa, repent, seek His face, acknowledge you are a sinner, and He will forgive you.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (NKJV)

You belong to Yeshuwa if you said yes to Him as Soter and Kurios. However, you still need to obey Him. Let the Law show you your sin as it did Paul. Then repent and know His forgiveness.

Psalm 103:6 YAHWEH executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. 7 He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel. 8 YAHWEH is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. 9 He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. 10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. 11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. 13 As a father pities his children, so YAHWEH pities those who fear Him. 14 For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. 16 For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. 17 But the mercy of YAHWEH is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children,

You know Yeshuwa loves you because He forgives you and wipes your sin away when you repent and ask for His forgiveness. Nobody is without sin, but we are also not without His love.

The entire message of the Bible is Love. When you understand and come to the realization about just how much Yeshuwa loves you, you will repent when you sin. His forgiveness is a guarantee.

Let’s pray: Father, I am a sinner. Every day my thoughts and actions betray me. Forgive me. Take my sin away from me as far as the east is from the west. Cleanse me with hyssop and make me clean. Let me know Your forgiveness, mercy, and grace. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

Copyright © 1 August 2026 by Valerie Routhieaux