In the CT interview by Bethany Hoang, with Uwimana, the reader learns that Uwimana did not find it easy to forgive. She lost a husband and countless others in the genocide. Ask her to forgive the murderers!!?
Uwimana said she turned to God, a lot. At first, a lot of that turning was angry words projected at God for allowing that to happen. Eventually, she put more trust in God, and God saw her through. She relates,
"God kept His promises, and I survived, not because I was better or because I prayed a lot but by His grace."
Those of us who have never had to encounter such evil actions, will never ever be able to fathom the all encompassing effort Uwimana and others like her have had to bulldoze through. We will never know the immeasurable depths they have had to dig deep and deeper down to utilize and experience that grace of God to overcome the natural human resistance to forgive horrors beyond our comprehension.
It sounds so easy, "just forgive"--you will set yourself free. It doesn't let the malefactor off the hook but you will find freedom and healing in your own soul. Wise advice that often sounds so cliche but it can and does happen.
Denise Uwimana, by the grace of God, has been such an overcomer. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Another miracle of God's grace. Guess what? She hasn't stopped at her own personal healing. She has reached out and continues to reach out still to others such as herself. Cogitate on the numbers there would be of such others. She's helped an innumerable number of them.
Still Uwimana, didn't stop even there. She has reached, and continues to reach, across the great gulf of resentment and bitterness against those who brutally attempted to annihilate them. She reaches with forgiveness aimed at reconciliation, and subsequently, healing.
No doubt you've seen the newscasts too, of that time. Video clips of the Tutis refugees fleeing for their lives. I can remember. It makes one weep. Do you think you could reach out with forgiveness and add on reconciliation? Could you trust those people ever again?
Four or five years ago, I met a Rwandan man. He may only have been a young lad at that time of the massacre. When he told me which country he was from, all I could see flood across my mind were those straggling, scared, dejected, devastated refugees, running away--lines of mostly women and children.
What that Rwandan university student wanted to show me, however, was rather insistent on showing me, was the picture, which must be a famous spot in his country, of a large swathe and corridor of lush greenery, perhaps it was in the capital city. I don't recall. To me, that embodies the forgiveness, reconciliation and healing.
This reminds me of another stalwart forgiver, Corrie Ten Boom of Holland. Hers was a similar scenario of the colossal holocaust genocide of Jews and of those who loved and helped them. Corrie, her sister Betsy and her Dad (you've likely heard this before but please bear with me) helped hide Jews in the secret hiding place in their home. They also assisted others to escape elsewhere. In the end they were found out and arrested and sent to concentration camps Hitler had set up for exterminating Jews.
Corrie's Dad died within a couple of weeks of incarceration. Betsy took longer, and due, in large measure, to cruelty instigated by one of the cruelest of the cruel, guards. Corrie was the sole survivor of the three. She survived all because of some glitch in camp administration (or rather, God's orchestration which was not a mix-up), was set free.
Corrie Ten Boom set about bringing forgiveness and reconciliation throughout Europe in the aftermath of World War II. People were so trampled upon and broken in spirit and bitter. Corrie went about preaching forgiveness, by the grace of God.
One night after one such meeting of asking folks to forgive, and the attendees had mostly all gone home, there was one man left standing. Oh no! He was advancing towards her! She recognized him! You guessed it; the cruelest of the cruel guards.
What was he asking?! Forgive him!!? How preposterous!
In one of her writings, Corrie announces, she couldn't. She just could not stretch out her hand to that perpetrator's outstretched hand. The panoramic movie of all those evil things precipitated upon herself, others and especially to her sister Betsy chased each other through her mind. BUT...but then, the Holy Spirit of God compelled her...It's a choice, Corrie. A choice to forgive, or not. She told God in those intervening seconds, something like, "I cannot do it on my own. You need to help. I will shake his hand but You will have to do the rest". If I remember correctly, Corrie said that in that moment in which she reached out to shake the man's hand, she felt a surge of warmth infuse her arm and heart propelling her to sincerely and earnestly forgive the man, who had, incidentally, become her brother-in-Christ.
I love to hear such stories of God's miraculous grace and healing. How are they possible, though? Ah-h-h...They are made possible by the One Perfect Forgiver of all time and eternity.
Most of us have read of the agonies Jesus suffered throughout His farcical trial: whipping, mocking, crown of thorns thrust upon His head and then the actual hanging on the cruel cross; the betrayal, and denial by His own disciples; rejection by His own nation of people, the Jews; the heartache, mental anguish and then the physical pain. Pause. Consider it.
Jesus words as He hung on the cross of Calvary are astounding:
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34 ESV).
Jesus, our perfect example of forgiveness. He forgave even in the middle of all that misery. Not only did He forgive those immediate ones who failed Him and who heaped suffering upon Him...He forgives you and me so many thousands of years later. He gave us the full benefit of the doubt, and forgives us, as He says, we "don't know what we do". His human creatures who need/needed full comprehensive forgiveness; many of us being repeat offenders.
I think of Jesus' gracious prayer model teaching, as seen in Luke 11:1-4 (ESV), especially verse 4...
"...and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us..."
Do we? Do we forgive? Do we forgive everyone?
It's a blessing that God's forgiveness does not depend upon human merit. Forgiveness comes from the grace of God. Daily, we must ask Him to forgive us, not towards repeat salvation, but towards mending of our relationship, towards daily reconciliation and healing in our relationship with Him. From that comes sweet communion with our Lord Jesus Christ. We fail. He never fails (Zephaniah 3:5).
In 1 John 1:9 (ESV) we discover the promise of God's Word is when we confess our sins,
"He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins".
Jesus goes an extra mile...that verse continues,
"...and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
We forgive others. He forgives us. He cleans us from all the unrighteousness--every last, teeny-weeny bit of stain thereof, gone.
In this we can have reconciliation and healing just as Denise Uwimana and Corrie Ten Boom did. They allowed God's grace to flood their hearts and minds. We can to.
Pursue forgiveness and reconciliation with our Heavenly Father, and with our fellow human beings.
Let's each of us, each brother and sister-in-Christ, contemplate God's grace, forgiveness, reconciliation and healing. Where would you be without it? Remember, as we remember Jesus in His death and resurrection each Lord's Day morning. Remember as we pass the bread and wine one to another, partaking of each. It is only because of our Perfect Forgiver that we can.
Ephesians 4:32 (ESV) exhorts,
"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you."
It may take monumental effort to come to that point of forgiveness; may God's grace and love compel you and galvanize you towards being His imitator and bring the healing that is so very needed.
May "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all" (2 Corinthians 13:14 NKJV).
~ERC May 2019~
That well-known song Amazing Grace written by John Newton so long ago comes to mind. Here it is sung by one Michael W. Smith.
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