The Most Merciful and Gracious Lord

Psalm 103:8-12

“The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”

The Lord God is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, will not always chide and will not keep His anger forever. The Lord is good and will forgive us when we call upon Him. Psalm 86:5 says “For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.”

He has not dealt with us after our sins and He has not rewarded us according to our iniquities. Our sins and iniquities should have separated us from the love of God but the Lord God has not done that. Instead He has given us access to Him through His one and only son Jesus Christ. In John 5:24, Jesus says “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” What a love the Father has towards His children that He chose to send His only son for our sake!

As high as the heaven is above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. In Proverbs 1:7 we see that “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” God has made us wise enough to fear the Lord. Not only that, as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. We are only eligible for eternal damnation but Lord God has eternally separated our sins from us and has embraced us with His eternal love and grace.

Our part is to repent and receive the salvation and walk with Christ for the rest of our lives. To repent is to be filled with godly sorrow based on who we are in the world so that we can become what God destined us to be in Christ. II Corinthians 7:10 says “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” May the loving and gracious Lord fill our hearts with godly sorrow so that we may repent of our sins and embrace the free gift of salvation through His son Jesus Christ!