The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. (Exodus 34:6)
One of the greatest mistakes we make as Christians is forgetting that God is not like us.
For instance, if we sit long enough in traffic, we run out of patience. Work a long day and we run out of energy. Suffer a devastating loss, and we run out of hope.
In the midst of our own limitations, it does our soul good to pause, remember, and reflect on our infinite God and His unrelenting goodness to His children.
Take His love, for example, described in Jeremiah 31:3 as “everlasting.” It makes no difference who you are or what you’ve done, because unlike human affections, God’s love isn’t fickle. If you belong to Him, He loves you. And He never quits loving you.
Then there’s His mercy. A fresh batch is waiting for you every morning when you wake, (Lam. 3:22-23). And in case you need to know how long it will last, twenty-six times in Psalm 136 alone we are reminded that “His mercy endures forever.”
What about His grace? When Paul was suffering seemingly unbearable torment (likely from a physical condition), God promised that His grace would be “sufficient,” (2 Cor. 12:9). The same God who sustained Paul stands with an endless supply of “sufficient grace” for your daily burdens as well.
All these and more are promised His children, but just making them available to us is not enough. He so desires to do us good that He doesn’t even wait for us to come to Him for what we need. The literal translation of Psalm 23:6 says, “Surely goodness and mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life.” A contemporary rendering states it like this: “Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life.”
Imagine God – the most supreme reality in all of time and eternity – energetically and delightfully following after you every moment you live, so that His good and gracious gifts saturate your life. Jeremiah 9:24 says, “I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”
When was the last time you allowed yourself to swim in the bottomless sea of His lovingkindness, tender mercies and abounding grace? Do you wake in the morning awash in thankfulness for a God who literally never stops loving you? In what ways do you exhibit a spirit of appreciation for your Father’s unrelenting goodness to you?
Give thanks to the Lord for He is good! (Ps. 136:1)
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Gracious Father,
Being accustomed to the notion of love in human relationships that is often petty and fickle, I struggle to believe that Your love for me is truly unconditional, inescapable, and unending… and further, that it has nothing whatsoever to do with me. It’s mine simply because I am Yours. Widen my spiritual vision until I am able to echo Paul’s conviction when he declares:
I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God
that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8:38-39 NIV)
Instead of my first waking thought being one of dread, fear, worry, or the like, fill my mind and heart with praise for the fresh morning supply of Your mercy and grace that is more than sufficient to deal with whatever You know I will encounter that day. As I drift off to sleep, may my last conscious thought be one of thanksgiving that You are with me every waking moment, enveloping me in Your goodness. And if I wake in the night Father, remind me that You are right there with me, for You never sleep.
Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. (Psalm 139:7-10 NKJV)
Lord, mold me into a vessel of honor that reflects Your love, kindness, mercy and grace to each individual You bring into my life. Keep me clean so that Your image is never marred nor distorted, and tune the strings of my heart to continually sing songs of praise for Your perpetual goodness to me!
And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Cor. 3:18 NIV)
- Lord, You are the absolute first being (Rev. 1:8; Isa. 44:6; Exod. 3:14). Can I sufficiently conceive of the glory of Your one most pure essence by one act of faith? No, I can’t. It is for this reason that You have manifested Your character to me in Your Word through various attributes (Deut. 29:29; Exod. 34:6-7).
- Lord, I know there is only one God in three Persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – infinite in being, power, wisdom, and goodness. You are the Maker, Preserver, and Disposer of all things, and the most just and merciful Lord of all.
- The very fact that there is such a thing as the mortification of sin and the sanctification of the soul shows that You both pity sinners and hate sin. Your pity moves You to justify the sinner, and Your purity moves You to sanctify them as that which is right and good according to Your will. What a blessing!
- Lord, You know what is better for us than we do for ourselves. Even things I think are of no benefit to me, and especially those more difficult, I know that You may turn them at last to my greatest benefit. You are filled with mercy for Your people. You exclude no one from taking hold of Your mercy. You invite sinners to repent and promise forgiveness in Christ. Truly, You have proclaimed Yourself the most merciful and compassionate Being in the world (Exod. 34:6-7).
Further References for Exodus 34:6
Num. 6:25; 2 Sam. 12:22; 2 Kings 13:23; Job 33:24; Ps. 77:9
