I just have one more comment to make on Heather Holleman’s 4 Ways to Move Forward in February, and it’s on the last one:

If we’ve gone ahead of God in January–perhaps with unwise choices or alliances–we can pray that God “releases [our] foot from the snare” (Psalm 25:15), that we can live free from condemnation (Romans 8:1), and that God would mercifully make “all things work for good” (even our mistakes). 

Maybe because I’ve done so much thinking and writing of the events of January 6, but I can’t help but believe that Heather also knows people who are at least in sympathy and maybe involved with the rioters. “…gone ahead of God…unwise choices or alliances.”

No matter what our unwise choices, there is good news. She suggests a three-part remedy:

• Pray that God releases our foot from the snare:

My eyes are ever on the LORD, for only he will release my feet from the snare. (Psalm 25.5, NIV)

• Pray that we live into our freedom from condemnation:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8.1, 2, NIV)

• Pray that God will make all things work for good – even our mistakes:

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Romans 8.28, NKJV)

As I wrote last week, no matter who we are or what we have done, God is forgiving and compassionate and wants our next action to be in the right direction.

You are my dear children, and I write these things to you so that you won’t sin. But if anyone does sin, we continually have a forgiving Redeemer who is face-to-face with the Father: Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2.1, 2, TPT)

¹⁰  He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹  For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
¹²  as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
¹³  As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
¹⁴  For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. (Psalm 103.10 – 14, ESV)

But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3.13, 14, ESV)