The Lord is Forgiving

Psalm 86:5 (NIV)

5 You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you.

The goodness of God's nature is a great encouragement to us in all our addresses to him. His goodness appears in two things, giving and forgiving. He is a sin-pardoning God; not only he can forgive, but he is ready to forgive, more ready to forgive than we are to repent. He is a prayer-hearing God; he is plenteous in mercy, very full, and very free, both rich and liberal unto all those that call upon him; he has wherewithal to supply all their needs and is openhanded in granting that supply. [Matthew Henry]

NPR ran a heartbreaking interview with Robert Ebeling, an engineer who worked on the 1986 Challenger launch that resulted in the death of all seven occupants. In January 1986, Ebeling and four other engineers pleaded for the launch to be delayed; they anticipated the precise failure that would destroy the shuttle. That night, Ebeling even told his wife, Darlene, "It's going to blow up." The engineers' pleas were refused. Three weeks after the explosion, he and another engineer, since deceased, spoke to NPR. Ebeling was not identified by name until this past week. The NPR article continued:

Ebeling retired soon after Challenger. He suffered deep depression and has never been able to lift the burden of guilt. In 1986, as he watched that haunting image again on a television screen, he said, "I could have done more. I should have done more." He says the same thing today, sitting in a big easy chair in the same living room, his eyes watery and his face grave. The data he and his fellow engineers presented, and their persistent and sometimes angry arguments, weren't enough to sway Thiokol managers and NASA officials. Ebeling concludes he was inadequate. He didn't argue the data well enough. A religious man, this is something he has prayed about for the past 30 years. "I think that was one of the mistakes that God made," Ebeling says softly. "He shouldn't have picked me for the job. But next time I talk to him, I'm gonna ask him, 'Why me. You picked a loser.'"

[Howard Berkes, "30 Years After Explosion, Challenger Engineer Still Blames Himself," NPR The Two-Way blog (1-28-16)]

If someone would have just said, “The Lord is forgiving and good,” maybe Ebeling could have forgiven himself. He held onto a burden of guilt that he could have let go of so easily by turning it over to God. He believed he was a loser because of what happened, but I see him as a hero for standing up and raising a voice even though it wasn’t fully heard.