Abounding in Steadfast Love

The Lord is gracious

and merciful

Slow to Anger

and abounding in steadfast love

Psalm 145:8

During the month of October we have been looking at each of these attributes of God.  We come now to the last of these: God abounding in steadfast love. 

Abounding = overflowing, generous

Steadfast = firmly fixed in place, not subject to change, consistent

Love = cannot exist outside of relationship.  God’s love exists because He has an object of His love :- us!

Steadfast love = loyal, committed, faithful.  Loved forever, over and over again!

 

“I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.”  (Jer. 31:3)

God’s love is not dependent upon us.  He loves us because He loves us.  Deeply, faithfully, committedly He loves us. He loves us with an everlasting love which never gives up on us,  which seeks us out, which pursues us.

Because He  is faithful, He keeps on loving us over and over again.  Because He loves us He restores us when we break relationship with Him, He heals our souls of hurts and pain, He binds up our wounds, He forgives when we sin, He brings peace to our troubled souls, He gives serenity in the midst of our chaos, He showers us with good things.

The Psalmist in Psalm 136 recounts all the ways God has dealt with them and declares that God’s steadfast love endures forever after each and every remembrance.

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever;

to him who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever;”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭136:1-4‬ ‭ESV.

 

The Psalm gives a good pattern to follow – Glorify God for who he is, see His awesome hand in creation, recount the past times God has been with you, see how He has rescued you, see and praise Him for His steadfast love which has steadily, faithfully been shown, recount God’s abundant goodness to you.

It is not just this Psalm, but in all our personal lives we can recognise that God is above all gods, we can see Him in creation, we can see Him in rescuing us, we can see Him in our own personal stories and declare that His steadfast love endures forever.

So in my own life I can look back and say His steadfast love endures forever.  

 

He has forgiven my sin, His steadfast love endures forever.

He has made me His child, His steadfast love endures forever.

He has been my strength in troubled times, His love steadfast endures forever.

He has blessed me with good things, His love steadfast endures forever.

He has loved me with an everlasting, committed love, His love steadfast endures forever

He is my peace, His steadfast love endures forever.

He is my hope, His steadfast love endures forever.

 

In what areas in your own life can you say His love steadfast endures forever?  In what areas have you seen His faithful, committed love shown to you?

 

The Lord is Slow to Anger

The Lord is gracious

and merciful

Slow to Anger

and abounding in steadfast love

Psalm 145:8

During the month of October we are looking at each of these characteristics of God, to see what they reveal about who God is.  This week looking at God being Slow to anger/long suffering.

Slow to Anger = patient; long-tempered; slow to express wrath

Mercy emphasises the misery which our sin causes.

Long-suffering emphasises the sin which caused our misery.

In a world of sin, sickness, suffering, violence and injustices we want to see wrong rightened, we want to see justice done and suffering relieved and we actually question, why doesn’t God step in, why does He allow these things, why doesn’t He bring justice?

Well, my friend, He will, oh yes He will and what a terrible day of judgement and punishment that will be.  You see it is because He is long-suffering that He is putting off that day.  He is suffering long with us, with our sin, our disobedience our calamities and disasters because of His great mercy.  He could step in now, but we would be destroyed, so in His mercy He is giving us a chance to come to a place of repentance, a place of Salvation in Christ Jesus.

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that wth the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promises as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

You see, God is long-suffering, but there will come an end to that, an end of that leniency .  Just as He put up with Sodom & Gomorroh for so long, so did a day of judgement come.  As in the days of Noah when the peoples’ wickedness and violence got so bad, so God called an end.  Thankfully, in His grace & mercy God has always provided a way out, a way to be saved, whether in the form of an ark, of sacrifice, of following Angels or ultimately through the death of Jesus.  There is a way of salvation and He is suffering long, patiently giving people a chance to come and be saved.

This is not where I expected my thoughts on God being slow to anger to take me, I hadn’t really been thinking about there being an “end” to His patience and endurance.  However, my thoughts have lead me to this this place and all I can say is that in every instance I looked at in the bible of when God’s patience did run out, He always, always provided a way for the people to be saved.  And so too with us and for that I am profoundly grateful.

The Lord IS slow to anger and long suffering, but when He reaches an end of that there is a way of salvation from His wrath and righteous judgement.  That way is Jesus.  Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and it is through Him we are saved. Jesus is the place where we are hidden from the wrath to come.  Let us come and hide ourselves in Him today .

The Lord is merciful

The Lord is gracious

and merciful,

slow to anger

and abounding in steadfast love. (Ps 145:8)

This month of October we are taking each of these characteristics of God to see what they really reveal about who God is.  Looking this week at the Lord being merciful.

Mercy = to feel sympathy for; compassion; leniency; forgiveness

The mercy of the Lord = God’s love which responds to human need in an unmerited way.

If Grace is God giving us things which we do not deserve,

then mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve!

One thing which has struck me very forcably when looking at God’s mercy is that in order to obtain this mercy we have to first of all be conscious of our need for it!

In Psalm 51, David is so conscious of his sin that he cries out to God for mercy.  He knows that God alone can deal with his sin, that he can’t do it himself.  He knows that God is merciful and that there is forgiveness to be found in Him.

The greater our awareness of sin, the greater our awareness and appreciation of God’s mercies!

Also, in looking at incidences in the gospels of people crying out to Jesus for mercy, I noticed that they had a need, they knew their need and they cried out because of that specific need.  When Jesus asked them “what do you want me to do for you?”, they were specific, not full of waffle, but straight to the point: heal my daughter, restore my sight, make me whole, forgive my sin etc.  They also recognised that Jesus is Lord, and that He was able and willing to touch, to respond, to heal, to save.

Lord, this is my need, this is my situation, this is where I need You to come into my life and show me compassion, this is where I need Your leniency that You won’t deal with me as I deserve.

It was when Jesus passed by that He heard their cry, He stopped, He touched, He saved.  Where in your life just now are you needing Jesus to hear you, to stop by you, to hear you, to speak to you?

Then cry out, Jesus, have mercy on me.

The greater the need, the greater the mercy!

The Lord is Gracious

The Lord is gracious

and merciful,

slow to anger

and abounding in steadfast love. (Ps 145:8)

These four aspects of God’s character are mentioned again and again in the bible – His grace, His mercy, His being slow to anger and His abounding in steadfast love.  When reading them like this is is so easy to miss what they are really revealing about God.  So during this month oOctober I would like to take each one and focus on it, and see what new insights I gain and hopefully have a greater understanding of God Himself and who He is and how He acts true to His character.

So is week :- The Lord is gracious.  What does that mean?  What does that mean for my life in the every day?

GRACIOUS = to favour, to show kindness.  It is God dealing with His people not on the basis of our merit or worthiness, what we deserve, but on the basis on HIS goodness and generosity.  It means that God is favourably disposed towards me, that He is always inclined in kindness towards me.

That means that I don’t need to fear His judgement,  He is not out to condemn me, I do not need to be afraid of Him.  It means that I can trust Him not to hurt or disappoint me.

In grace there is a place of return.  In grace there is forgiveness.  In grace there are second chances, yes and third and fourth and fifth ones too!  In grace there is peace and healing.  In grace God is waiting for us to come, to cry out, to return

Therefore The Lord waits to be gracious to you, and He exalts Himslef to show mercy to you.  (Is 30:18)

In grace God waits for us, as a Father allows a child to go and explore, even exert his own will and waits for the child to return, so does God wait for us.  He is waiting to show us favour, He is waiting to show us kindness!

All these wonderful truths, how will I apply them, make them real to me in my everyday?

By not being afraid to come to God, not being afraid to return even when I have fallen, even when I have made mistakes, even when I have messed up big time, to know that there is always a welcome waiting for me in the Father’s arms.  And to have confidence, to step out, knowing the Lord my God is for me and seeks to show me kindness and favour.  To know I am so loved and looked upon is a beautiful thing.

What difference will it make to your life to know that the Lord is a gracious God that He looks upon you with kindness ?