“Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.”

That verse is foundational in my novel, Peace Mission. This whole section of Scripture is used repeatedly in the novel.

The end for a Christian is victory. It doesn’t matter if all looks dark; we always have the light of Christ with us.

We always have hope when we are in Christ. Micah 7:7 says, “I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.” We have hope. We can wait on the Lord and be saved. We have a God who is near, who hears prayers.

But we have even more than that.

“Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”

God removes our sin. That’s the good news, that we are free from sin. We are not just forgiven, but our sin is removed and thrown away.

We are free from sin in Christ Jesus.

Now, God can’t just overlook sin. He can’t just say, “Never mind!” Sin has to be dealt with. It is thrown in the depths because God needs it out of sight. He can’t stand the sight of sin. He will not dwell with wickedness. He is a holy God, and those with Him must be holy. Sin has to be removed.

It can be removed because blood has been shed, because God made a way for us to be free.

God’s delight is to show His loving mercy toward us. Pray and ask for mercy for those you love. God desires to show mercy. That doesn’t mean overlooking sin as if it were okay, but it does mean forgiving and removing the sin, so things are okay.