Exposition:
In today’s scripture reading, we encounter God who is frustrated over man’s depraved nature – the old nature that always seeks to indulge in sin. He expresses his decision in verse 3 is that his “spirit shall not abide with man forever.” That is, he will now abandon man to his fate – the fate of sin and damnation. And that man will no longer live forever as he originally intended. He placed an expiry on man’s life – to be curtailed at age 120. Anytime and anywhere sin occurs, it creates a barrier – a separation between us and God. The prophet Isaiah said: “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear.” Is. 59:2.
As you can see, our iniquities and sins have the potential to separate us from God and have caused his face to be hidden from us. But that was not his original intent – for us to be separated from God. No! Not at all! He desired above all things to have a relationship with us, to heal us, and to give us the best of his gifts on a daily regular basis. But he cannot do that until he forgives us. In effect, to achieve his original intention for his creation, he has no choice but to keep on forgiving us any time we fall. All that he requires from us when we fall short of his standards, is to admit and ask for forgiveness. Read 1Jn 1:8-10
Anytime we talk about forgiveness, we also talk about atonement. God’s decision to forgive our sins should not be misconstrued to mean he is condoning our sins. His justice seeks pacification for sin. And this pacification was attained through the shed blood of his dear Son, Jesus Christ. Hebrews 9:22 says, that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin.
There could be several reasons why God chooses to forgive us when we sin, however, we will dwell on the three mentioned above for the rest of the week. Admittance of guilt is not a sign of weakness, rather it is a sign of strength that helps the sinner to retrace his footsteps to the feet of the cross, from where he will receive pardon for his sins.