I don’t believe God will forgive me for what I’ve done

The biggest reason we have trouble  believing God when he says he’s going to  forgive us is that we confuse God’s  forgiveness with the forgiveness of  people. And there’s a big difference. For  instance, people are often reluctant to  forgive. Psalm 86 says “You are kind and  forgiving O Lord abounding in love to  all who call to you.” 

People forgive but  they don’t forget and so when you get  into one of these heated arguments, they have to throw your past transgressions  back at you to gain a strategic  advantage. Yet the Lord says in Isaiah 43  “I, even I, am he who blots out your  transgressions for my own sake and  remembers your sin no more.” 

People  forgive minor annoyances but sometimes  are reluctant to forgive major hurts. Isaiah chapter 1 says “Though your sins  are like scarlet, they shall be white as  snow. Though they are red as crimson, they  shall be like wool.” 

People sometimes put  conditions on their forgiveness but not  God. Isaiah 55 says “Let the wicked  forsake his way and the evil man his  thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord and he  will have mercy on him and to our God,  for he will freely pardon.”

People may  forgive one or two mistakes but then  they draw the line. They say “That’s it, no  more.” However, Lamentations chapter 3 says “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I  have hope because of the Lord’s great  love, we are not consumed, for his  compassions never fail, they are new  every morning. Great is your faithfulness.”

So you see it’s clear that God’s  forgiveness is not like human  forgiveness. Its scope, its completeness,  its availability far outstrip the  ability of people to forgive. Whatever it  is you’ve done, listen to the words of  1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, God  is faithful and just and will forgive us  our sins and purify us from all  unrighteousness.”