Friday 21 Jun 2013

Friday Reading: Psalm 103:6-14

Key Verse: Psalm 103:8
8  The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

Devotion:
One of the most amazing truths that was hard for me to accept in the beginning was that Christ was merciful to all! The more that I have read the Old Testament the more I have realised that God continues to show His mercy far and beyond the point that we would stop and hit back at others. God’s love toward us goes further than our love toward others and hence His mercy continues on far beyond our breaking points!

The people of Israel turned against Him many a time and yet He still kept His promise to keep that as His children, as His chosen race. The more that they sinned against Him the angrier He would get, allowing many things to happen to them which were not pleasant! But throughout all of that His mercy endured and was always extended to them when they were willing to come to Him in repentance. And that is the key for us all, so long as we are willing to come to Him with a repentant heart (and not just say the words) then He is willing and able to forgive us once again.

When we do sin He does not immediately condemn us to the pit or into the hands of some sinful stranger; instead He lovingly stretches out His hands to us to bring us home to Him. When we do not look up and go to Him He starts to call us. When we do not answer Him He starts to try to get our attention in other ways. When He knows that we are ignoring Him then He is justified in pouring our His wrath upon us!

But it is God that created us and He is our keeper. He knows how far we can go. He knows how much we can endure. He knows our hearts and our minds. There is nothing that He cannot do and nothing that He will not forgive when we turn to Him in honesty and repentance. If He were to deal with us according to our sins then we would very quickly join the endangered species list, jumping up the ladder to first place! But because of His love and mercy, He continues to try to get our attention and turn us away from our sinful lives first of all. Let us listen in the first place and learn from what He has given us right now!

Points to Ponder:
Do you think you can get away with murder?

So why do you chance your arm with God?