Our Compassionate, Gracious and Ever Loving Father

“The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and rich in faithful love. He will not always accuse us or be angry forever. He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our offenses. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His faithful love towards those that fear Him”
Psalm 103:8-11 HCSB

Some passages in the Scriptures leave me astounded. This section of the 103rd Psalm is one of them. I am often speechless in my attempts to take in the entire scope of this wonderful truth expressed through the penmanship of the Psalmist. This Psalm reveals an important aspect of God’s personality that we sometimes are not cognizant of and this makes us develop a warped image of who He is and how He relates with us His children.

People often picture God like some great Cosmic Judge who is constantly angry and needs to be appeased. In fact, the understanding many people have of Him does not rise beyond that level. He is to some people like a fearful ogre or mysterious being with an unquenchable thirst for execution of judgment. Unfortunately, many people including some believers in Christ live their lives with this sort of view about God. But such a view of God is very far from the truth we see revealed in this Psalm.

Compassionate. Gracious. Slow to anger. Rich in faithful love. Those are the terms the Psalmist used to describe God’s character and none of these communicate the picture of an invisible vengeful monster with a whip in hand or blazing fire from his nostrils to consume everyone.

The truth is that God does not even deal with us according to the demerits of our sins. As another Psalm says:

“..If You considered sins, Lord, who could stand?”
Psalm 130:3 HCSB

The description of God's love being “as high as the heavens are above the earth”, is usage of the furthest known or largest conceivable distance to man. It is almost equivalent to saying that His love is infinite. His love is boundless and unending.

The complete spectrum of this revelation of God’s personality and character is seen in our Saviour Jesus Christ who as Scripture says came to the earth to reveal God to us:

“Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways. In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son…The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of His nature…”
Hebrews 1:1-3 HCSB

 See John 1:18 and John 14:9 also.

In His Son Jesus, we see an unmatched display of the full extent of God’s compassion, grace and faithful love toward us:

“God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His One and Only Son into the world that we might live through Him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
1st John 4:9 & 10 HCSB

“…God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!”
Romans 5:8 HCSB

Muse with me on this Psalm this week and view God correctly as your compassionate, gracious and ever loving Father. It is so comforting to know that our God is like that. It is even more comforting to know that this is His unchanging stance towards us His children. No matter the circumstances and situations around you dear one, always remember that our God is rich in His faithful love toward you.

I pray even further (in the words of Apostle Paul in Ephesians 3:18) that you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love. Love so high that made Him leave His throne to take the form of man. Love so deep that He reached into the depths of sin and depravity to rescue us. Love so long that He is able to bridge the vast gulf between sinful men and the Holy God. Love so wide that we are completely surrounded by it and we are never able to stray outside of His reach.

My song for the week is “Think About His Love” by Don Moen.

Think About His Love