Have you ever had someone angry at you, very angry? Maybe you slipped up, did some things that you shouldn’t have, and now you have to face the wrath of this person. And what if this person is not one to ever show any mercy, any forgiveness? That is a very dismal, very discouraging thing to deal with. This is the portrait that many people have of God, a stern, even harsh Deity, who is quick to clobber us when we fall into any sin, no matter how contrite we might be. Let’s look at some verses in Psalm 103, one of my favorite psalms, to see what the Bible says about the Lord God.
Psalm 103 is one of the many written by King David. As we read throughout the Old Testament, though David was a faithful believer and follower of Yahweh, he also had a number of occasions where he fell into sin, just like we all do. Several times throughout his life David fell into serious sin, and needed to come to God in repentance and seek forgiveness. What would he find when he came? In most of the pagan religions, their myriad of gods were not forgiving deities. One slip up, great or small, would bring their wrath down. What would David find from Yahweh? What will we find from God when we are in the same condition of needing forgiveness for our sins and failings?
David tells us in the middle of this beautiful psalm of his, that the Lord God is a merciful God (vs. 8). Mercy can be defined as withholding the punishment that is due us. David had sinned throughout his life. We all have. He knew that some of his sins would have merited very harsh punishment if he got what he deserved. However, as he experienced, Yahweh is merciful and gracious. Rather than give him what he deserved, He showed David mercy (vs. 10). God has shown us unlimited mercy, but it is with a condition. The condition is that we “fear Him” (vs. 11). We must show Him the honor, reverence, and respect that is His due.
Not only is the Lord merciful, He is also slow to anger. When He does get angry, He doesn’t hold on to that anger forever (vs. 9). If the believer will humble himself and confess his wrongdoing, the Lord will discontinue His reprimands and cool His anger. Unlike so many people, God doesn’t hold a grudge.
As we continue on in this psalm, we read a very blessed promise, and that is found in verses 11 and 12. We have seen that Yahweh is a merciful God, and here we read that His mercy is as high as the heavens. David wouldn’t have known this, but we know that if a rocket is shot out into outer space, it can keep going and going and going. There is no end to the heavens above the earth. Thus, there is no end to God’s mercy.
We also read here that God has removed our sins from us as far as the east is from the west. Not as far as the north is from the south. If we walked to the north pole, when we got there we would then have to go south. Once we got to the south pole, we would have to start heading north again. However, if I head east, there is no point where I begin to head west. I keep going east around and around the globe. The same with heading west. We have a forgetful God. When we come to Him in repentance of our sins, He takes them from us, removing them as far as the east is from the west. He forgets them. This blessing from the Lord is equivalent to the ones mentioned several times in the Bible, where He tells us that our sins have been blotted out. The Prophet Isaiah tells us that on two occasions in Isaiah 43:25 and in Isaiah 44:22. Peter also spoke of that in one of his early sermons after Pentecost (Acts 3:19). They are erased better than any man-made eraser can do!
When we sin, which we all do, the weight of the guilt of that sin can be a heavy burden to bear. However, it is a weight that can be removed if we humble ourselves before God, acknowledging our sin, and embracing by faith that the Lord has forgiven us. In turn, God expects us to conduct ourselves towards others as He has conducted Himself towards us. He wants and expects us to show mercy to others, and to be quick to forgive.
Looking back over these verses, we can see how precious they are. We all sin, and our sins deserve punishment. Yet the Lord is merciful to us. He pities us as a good, loving father does to his children. When we come to Him, He forgives our sins, and does not punish us as we deserve. How can we ever thank and love Him enough?
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