Who is God? What is He like at the very core of His being?
Psalm 103 pulls back the curtain on the heart of our God, revealing truths that bring assurance and relief to all weary, imperfect pilgrims on our trek to heaven. Countless times I have let these words refresh me like a cold glass of iced tea on a hot and humid Tennessee day.
Here is an example of what I mean:
“The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always contend with us; nor will He stay angry with us forever. He has not dealt with with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who revere Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who revere Him.” Psalm 103: 8-13
I know of no other place in the Old Testament that describes the personality of God better than this. Our God is not an idea, a thing, a force but a Person. He is The Person who has created all things and invites us to benefit from the overflow of all He brings to a relationship with Him. If ever there was a one-sided relationship, this is it!
What do I have that God doesn’t already have? What can I do or give that will add anything to who He is or provide something He is lacking? I have witnessed and participated in many relationships that have been out of balance, where one person does much of the giving while the other does most of the taking. If you’re in one of those relationships now or have been, you know how frustrating that can be if you’re the giver.
Parent-child is the only human-to-human relationship where the giving and taking should be out of balance. Parents are to give and children are to receive the blessings that flow from the parent’s loving care.
Interestingly, the Psalmist emphasizes the father idea in the passage, illustrating how God’s loving heart provides all we need. “Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who revere Him.”
Children who revere and trust their parents open their lives to all the benefits of that relationship. So it is with us. The better we learn to trust and obey Him, the more we can experience and appreciate the overwhelming love of our Heavenly Father.
Jesus tells us ” If you being evil know how to give good things to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good things to you.”
Compared to God, we are evil. We try to do well with our children but we make mistakes. God is Absolute Perfection and makes no mistakes in how He instructs us and involves Himself in the everyday events of our lives.
What is there to love about God?
Look again at the way the Psalmist thinks of God. He is:
Compassionate,
Gracious,
Slow to become angry with us,
Abounding in mercy toward us,
Has not punished us as we deserve,
And has forgiven all our sins and doesn’t remember them against us!
Take a moment and remember how you have been and are now the beneficiary of the limitless love and compassion of a Father who brought you into His family by paying for your sins by sacrificing His Son for you. Put your name in this statement from John 3:16, ” For God loved _______ so much that He gave His only Son that if __________ would believe in Him ________ would not perish but have eternal life.”
So What?