GOD IS PATIENT AND MERCIFUL!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

THURSDAY AUGUST 26, 2021.

SUBJECT : GOD IS PATIENT AND MERCIFUL!

Memory verse: "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." (Second Peter 3 vs 9.)

READ: Psalm 103 vs 8 - 14:

103:8: The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.

103:9: He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever.

103:10: He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities.

103:11: For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;

103:12: As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

103:13: As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him.

103:14: For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.

 

INTIMATION:

We have an inspired record of God’s dealings with the nation of Israel in order to understand how gracious God can be with our rebellion. One of such records is the passage we read today. God was patient with Israel. He was forgiven. He cared for them as a father lovingly cares for his children. God will not always reprimand, though there were times when His children had to be disciplined. But God will not continuously do so day after day. Because of His forgiveness and mercy, He does not punish His people with what they deserve for their sins. Their rebellion would justly deserve death, but because of His mercy, He only disciplines. 

We serve a patient God who is timeless in His desire that men turn to serve Him. Though He is patient, there will be a time when He will bring the destruction on the unrighteous. We do not serve a mean God. He is not one who seeks to eternally destroy man from His presence. He is not a God who ha predestined some to destruction. He does not want men to be destroyed in the great destruction that will be coming upon those who do not obey the gospel. (See Second Thessalonians 1 vs 7 - 9.) On the contrary God desires that men repent. He desires that they turn their lives to obedient behavior of the divine will.

Our Heavenly Father extends grace far beyond the usual time by waiting or enduring without complaint or reprisal. The Bible in Exodus 34 vs 6 - 7 says: "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty....." In His kindness God holds back His judgement, giving people time to repent. It is easy to mistake God's patience for approval of wrong way we are living. Self evaluation is difficult, and it is even more difficult to expose our conduct to God and let Him tell us where we need to change. In our thought, we just don't put God in our timetable. 

God is not slow; He is just not in our timetable. Because of the open invitation; without any time frame attached, or given, to us to come to Him, we tend to put Him out of our timetable. Like God the Father, God the Son, Jesus, is waiting so that more sinners will repent and turn to Him. We must not sit and wait for Christ to return, but we should realize that time is short and we have important work to do. As Christians we must pray constantly that God will point out our sins, so that He can heal them. Unfortunately, we are more likely to be amazed at God's patience with others than humbled by His patience with us.

God is ever merciful. He is good and His mercies endures forever. Though this Nature of God is repeated severally in the Bible, but the psalmist in Psalm 136 repeated it throughout the psalm. Repeating this phrase, "For His mercy endures forever," shows the truth in it, and makes the important lesson sink in. "Mercy" is a translation of a Hebrew word that includes aspects of love, kindness, mercy, and faithfulness. We never have to worry that God will run out of love because it flows from a well that will never run dry.

Mercy the translation of the Greek word "Eleos," which is the outward manifestation of pity; it assumes need on the part of him who receives it, and resources adequate to meet the need on the part of him who shows it. God is rich in mercy (Ephesians 2 vs 4), and out of His mercy has provided salvation for all men (Titus 3 vs 5), for Jews (Luke 1 vs 72), and Gentiles (Romans 15 vs 9). He is merciful to those who fear Him (Luke 1 vs 50), for they are compassed with iniquity, and He alone can succor them. 

Now that we have known of God's patience and merciful nature, we should not overstretch it or take it for granted. But we should be ready to meet Christ any time, even today, planning our course of service as though He may not return for many years, and if we miss it now, we may have missed it forever.

Prayer: Abba Father, You are a merciful, patient, and just God. Let Your mercy locate me today, and always that I may find grace to do according to Your precepts at all times, in Jesus' Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!