Forgiveness is not forgetting about evil. Brushing off deep hurts as if they didn’t happen is not forgiveness. True forgiveness recognizes the evil. We can forgive if we believe and trust that God is sovereign over all things. God is working the worst things for my good and for his glory.

This Man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. But God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him. — Acts 2:23–24

We can look to the cross, where the world’s greatest injustice was committed against the Son of God. If the cross, a symbol of torture and humiliation, was no accident but God’s plan to bring salvation, then we can see our lesser painful hurts as part of God’s plan for our good and His glory. Even the deep, painful, life-altering hurts take on a different meaning. The act of forgiveness, a form of love, is available to those who know God.

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. — Genesis 50:20

This verse means that sinful human beings can plot evil, but ultimately God is working the worst things for our good and for his glory. I do not completely understand it, but it gives me hope, it helps me sleep at night, it allows me to remember that we are living in a world of chaos but in a world where God is in charge and ordering all things for His purposes.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. — Romans 8:28

Please pray for all God’s children, as I am praying for you, also. Remember “The Cross Set Us Free!”