This week’s verse is Psalm 103: 8 & 9
The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
The common mistake we can make (even I make at times) when thinking about God is to humanize Him. Since He is someone or something that is far beyond our grasp of fully understanding, it’s easy to assume that He operates somewhat close to how we do.
Here’s what I love about the verse for this week; it clearly shows God in His true form. It’s comforting to know and understand that while I may not be “good enough” as a person, God doesn’t hold my mistakes over my head just waiting for His revenge. He never has and He never will.
Let’s break this verse down:
“The Lord is compassionate and merciful…”
Though I try to be this way, I always come up short. As an imperfect person, there is no way I can be considered to be “compassionate and merciful” all the time. It’s literally impossible.
Isn’t it wonderful to know that there is a God who IS compassionate and merciful every second of every day, no matter what? It’s quite unbelievable, yes, but it IS true.
“…slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love”
Here’s another truth that is hard to understand or even accept. God is PATIENT with us (slow to get angry) and His love NEVER fails. Now, if you’re anything like me, your love can and will fail. There are so many times that I have hurt someone and whether or not it was intentional, my love failed. God’s love will NEVER fail. He’ll never hurt my feelings or give up on me. He will ALWAYS love…that’s just amazing.
And patience? Don’t get me started on patience. There are days I have precious little patience for anyone or anything. There are days when it feels good to “snap” at someone else just because I’m in a bad mood. God is SLOOOOOOOOOOOW to get angry with me when I mess up over and over. He doesn’t “snap” at me nor is He quick-tempered…and boy, do I deserve it sometimes.
“He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever.”
I’ve been guilty many, many times for jumping to conclusions about others. I see one action or hear one thing that they’ve said and I draw my own conclusions in my head as to what they really meant. How incredibly unfair of me. Still, it happens more often than I wish it did. God doesn’t react this way to me or you. He’s not up in heaven looking down just waiting to give us a “V8” for an unfair conclusion He’s made up based on our words or actions.
Finally, He does not “remain angry forever”. God doesn’t know how to hold a grudge or harbor resentment against us. I’m not sure I’ll ever understand this but it’s great to know and store away in my heart. I struggle, personally, to fully let things go even if I’ve chosen to forgive someone who has hurt me. There were even a few people who I’ve said “I will never forgive them” about.
Because God PURELY loves us, He doesn’t treat us like we treat each other. There is no reason for Him to get even when we mess up. He just wants to love us and help us through our hard times without losing his cool when we don’t get it right the first time.
In fact, He not only loves us but He forgives us if we sincerely ask Him to. Once He forgives us, He forgets our mistakes, and wants to help us to move on past our mistakes.
**If you would like to post your own “House Blend” or share about this one with your readers, feel free to use this button.
<a href="http://www.coffeewiththemrs.com/"><img src="http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii452/TFTM/houseblendbanner.jpg"></a>
