[The Lord said] "For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more." (Hebrews 8:12)
There was a pause. Something seemed terribly awry. How can an omniscient Judge forget somebody's sins? This seems all askew, out of whack. God forgets?
Yes. God forgets. But not in the way you think, or forget. We forget unintentionally. Things just sort of get etched out of our minds over time and new things sprout up and grow in their place. Sometimes we forget to take our car keys or pick up milk, little things from a close proximity ago, things we should easily remember (my dad and I are terrible for this). Other times we forget things from long ago, big things, like the day we were born. But ours is never an intentional forgetfulness.
God's is. But because He is omniscient and we will be "held accountable to God" (Romans 3:19), His forgetfulness is not a permanent erasing of sin. In other words, He isn't unable to remember our sin. He is no scatter brain, misplacing the record of our lies or thoughtless words somewhere. His forgetfulness is an active putting away of the sin that is being held against us. It is intrinsically connected to forgiveness. God forgives us and He stops holding that sin against us in judgement.
In that particular way, God forgives and forgets. (Don't use that phrase without a careful explanation and understanding of the way that God forgets.) Thus, in a way that models the merciful character of God, we too should exercise forgiveness and the grace of forgetfulness. People will do heinous things to us. That doesn't mean we forget their deeds; sometimes we can't. But it means that we stop holding that sin against them. We forget by forgiving.
At one time Peter didn't really understand forgiveness. There was an occasion when he approached Jesus and asked Him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" And then Jesus radicalized Peter's understanding of forgiveness and answered him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times" (Matthew 18:21-22). There is no limit to the forgiveness we are called to extend. Forgive somebody seven times, seventy-seven times, two thousand times, or more. Forgiveness is a discipline, necessary, albeit difficult. But we are called to it. We are called to it endlessly. At least, until the day comes where we have nothing more to forgive.
So what will you forgive and forget today?