This verse has universal appeal to everyone who has experienced genuine sorrow for sins committed. When we confess our sins to God, not only is He faithful and just to forgive us our sins (1 John 1:9), He also removes them from us and puts them behind His back.
All through Scripture we find references to the face of the Lord and the eyes of the Lord. For example, the prophet Habakkuk said of his God: You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness (Hab. 1:13 NKJ).
So confessed sins are removed from us and also from God's gaze by a process that puts them out of sight forever. Since God puts our sins out of His mind and view, we need to learn to do the same. I continually meet people whom God has forgiven, but who have never forgiven themselves. That is not only tragic, it is also unnecessary - and spiritually unproductive.
Don't keep punishing yourself and carrying a load of self-imposed guilt when simple repentance and confession of sin removes completely and forever all condemnation and feelings of failure.
Since God is omnipresent - filling all of heaven and earth with His presence (Jer. 23:24) - we may ask where His "back" is? The answer is: In the opposite direction from His face and eyes. This verse lovingly assures us that the sins we have confessed to our heavenly Father are no longer visible to Him. What blessed release!
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
