Many a time He turned His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath; for He remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that passes away and does not come again. (Psalm 78:38-39)
Who can understand man’s frailties more than the One who created mankind? As it is written, “He remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14). Knowing this, He shows compassion and is quick to forgive us of our shortcomings. Obviously, this is not to insinuate that He winks at evil and allows wrongdoing to go uncontested; it is just to say that He is far more merciful than He is judgmental. As He says of Himself, “The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty” (Exodus 34:6-7).
The Scripture also says that His mercy for those who love Him extends to the thousandth generation (Deuteronomy 7:9) whereas His punishment for the guilty is to the third and fourth generation (Exodus 20:5). If we were to apply this contrast to a weight scale, one side would contain 1000 generations while the other would merely contain three to four generations. In other words, the scales of justice would lean overwhelmingly in favor of mercy — in fact, it wouldn’t even be close. The point is God is far more merciful than He is judgmental and is quick to turn His anger away from those He realizes are but flesh. Were He to bring swift discipline to us each and every time we made a misstep, our existence in this world would be far briefer than it already is.
Never should we exploit or take for granted God’s mercy and long suffering, but at the same time, we should not forget that He is not like us when it comes to extending mercy. We are prone to carry a grudge even when we think we’ve forgiven someone. Our God, who is just and righteous, extends grace and forgiveness to us because He is determined to help us grow into the man and woman He created us to be — in spite of our failures. And so it is that He does not stir up His wrath against us; instead He extends grace which, as He reminded Paul, “is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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