God Helps Us with Feelings of Guilt:
God has given us the capacity to feel guilt when we disobey him. The pain of a guilty conscience should cause us to seek relief from our heavenly Father. It is not God’s will that we disobey him; but he will always help us deal with our guilt when we come to him (1 John 1:8-9).
In the Bible, God forgave and helped people deal with their guilt.
Adam and Eve felt guilty after disobeying God. Experiencing a sense of guilt and nakedness, they tried to hide from God. To help them deal with their guilt, God slew an animal and used its skin to cover their feelings of nakedness and guilt. This animal sacrifice foreshadowed the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ to cover the sins of mankind who trust in God for help (Genesis, chapter 3; 1Peter 1:18-20).
A woman with many sins, came and knelt at Jesus’ feet, cried, washed his feet with her tears, dried his feet with hair and anointed them with precious perfume. Jesus forgave all of her sins (Luke 7:47-48).
Peter felt guilty after denying three times that he knew the Lord Jesus Christ. Guilt from his denial caused Peter to weep grievously (John 18:15-27). After Jesus was crucified and resurrected, he allowed Peter three chances to affirm the Lord. Jesus forgave him. (John 21:15)
Our accuser, the devil, tries to make us feel that God will not forgive us.
After Judas betrayed Christ, the devil evidently made Judas feel he was beyond God’s forgiveness. Feeling guilty and beyond the Lord’s forgiveness, Judas committed suicide (Matthew 27:3-5). He evidently did not believe Jesus when he said, “every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men” (Matthew 12:31NKJV).
A client of mine, in a treatment program, felt guilty about having committed many sins. He said several times he waded into deep water because he “felt like ending it all,” due to his unacceptable and uncontrollable lifestyle. He apparent was not aware of or convinced that the Lord would forgive him, as Jesus had forgiven a woman with many sins (Luke 7:44-47). He needed to be convinced that Jesus “is able to save to the uttermost” those who come to him (Mat. 12:31; Hebrews 7:25).
The devil, attempts to make us feel guilty even when we have not disobeyed God.
In the Bible book of Job, the devil tried to make Job feel guilty when God said Job was “blameless and upright” (Job 1:1). In the devil’s attempt to exploit Job’s suffering, after contributing to Job’s pain, the devil used three of Job’s friends to try to pressure him into admitting he was guilty of having done wrong against God. However, having communed with God, and knowing God deemed him “blameless,” Job was able to maintained his integrity.
The devil has tried to make me feel guilty about past failures that God had forgiven me for. He has tried to accuse and condemn me for weaknesses which the Holy Spirit is working on. The devil may try to lay a guilt trips on you, as he has tried on me. A guilt funk could interfere with your communication with the Lord and our brethren. And it could hinder your witnessing and working for the Lord. What the enemy of our souls intends for harm, God uses for our good. If we allow God, he uses even our past failures and trials for our growth and his glory (Romans 8:28).
We should endeavor to obey the Lord. “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate…before the Father. He is Jesus Christ.” (1 John 2:1). Rather than hiding, weeping or denying when we disobey God, we need to seek the Lord, confess our sins, repent and ask God for forgiveness (1 John 1:8-9). Because of the atone blood of his Son Jesus Christ, God will cover our sins and restore us to a proper relationship with him, as he did with Adam and Eve, the woman with many sins, and Peter (John 3:16).
Furthermore, we should ask for God’s strength to avoid continuing to sin. He not only covers our sin with the blood of Jesus, He give us the Holy Spirit as our helper to keep us from sinning repeatedly and having feelings of guilt (John 14:16; Acts 1:8).
