ESOCS Devotional 20 May 2026 – Enduring Mercy and Forgiveness
MEMORY VERSE: “Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not His anger forever, because He delighteth in mercy. Micah 7:18 KJV
TEXT: Micah 7: 7-20
Therefore I will look to the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
My God will hear me.
8 Do not rejoice over me, my enemy;
When I fall, I will arise;
When I sit in darkness,
The Lord will be a light to me.
9 I will bear the indignation of the Lord,
Because I have sinned against Him,
Until He pleads my case
And executes justice for me.
He will bring me forth to the light;
I will see His righteousness.
10 Then she who is my enemy will see,
And shame will cover her who said to me,
“Where is the Lord your God?”
My eyes will see her;
Now she will be trampled down
Like mud in the streets.
11 In the day when your walls are to be built,
In that day the decree shall go far and wide.
12 In that day they shall come to you
From Assyria and the fortified cities,
From the fortress to the River,
From sea to sea,
And mountain to mountain.
13 Yet the land shall be desolate
Because of those who dwell in it,
And for the fruit of their deeds.
14 Shepherd Your people with Your staff,
The flock of Your heritage,
Who dwell solitarily in a woodland,
In the midst of Carmel;
Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead,
As in days of old.
15 “As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
I will show them wonders.”
16 The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might;
They shall put their hand over their mouth;
Their ears shall be deaf.
17 They shall lick the dust like a serpent;
They shall crawl from their holes like snakes of the earth.
They shall be afraid of the Lord our God,
And shall fear because of You.
18 Who is a God like You,
Pardoning iniquity
And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?
He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in mercy.
19 He will again have compassion on us,
And will subdue our iniquities.
You will cast all our sins
Into the depths of the sea.
20 You will give truth to Jacob
And mercy to Abraham,
Which You have sworn to our fathers
From days of old.
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In John 3:17, we understand that God did not send His Son into the world to condemn humanity, but that all through Him might be saved. In Jonah 3:10, we also see that when the wicked city, Nineveh acknowledged and confessed their sins, God refrained from His destruction of the city and its people. What a compassionate Father we have? Note: Nineveh did not only acknowledge their sinfulness, they promised to change, and did change. Forgiveness, therefore, is the miracle of a fresh start, a new beginning – a second change. Because of God’s compassion, love and mercy, He offers pardon for our sins by putting them out of sight, out of His reach, out of mind, and of course, out of existence. Christ’s shedding of His blood on the cross, foreshadowed by the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament, was the final and ultimate sacrifice.
Through this act, Jesus took all our sins, and nailed them to the cross. The ultimate aim is that those who believe shall be declared innocent and free from the controlling power of sin. Moreover, in 1 John 1:9, we are assured that if we would confess and forsake our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, (Psalms 32:5). The Bible goes further to remind us that those whose lives have been changed by the power of forgiveness, must respond by holding out the hand of a new beginning to any who have sinned against them, (Matthew 6:12). We must, as true believers, be people who have learned to freely forgive, (Matthew 5:44-45).
Reflections
- Forgive all – including your enemies, that ye may be called and recognized as sons of God.
Prayer
- Lord, God of mercy, have mercy upon me.
Further Reading: Zechariah 3:1-10; John 21:20 -25, Ephesians 3:14-21
ESOCS Devotional 20 May 2026
