"SHARING HOPE THROUGH SCRIPTURE ABOUT THE MERCY AND FORGIVENESS OF OUR GREAT GOD AND SAVIOR"

"SHARING HOPE THROUGH SCRIPTURE ABOUT THE MERCY AND FORGIVENESS OF OUR GREAT GOD AND SAVIOR"

Psalm 103:10 “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities.”

Psalm 103:11 ”For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;”

Psalm 103:12 “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

Psalm 103:13 “As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him.”

Taken from today's reading in The One Year Bible 10/31/14.

Some background, application, questions and a prayer:

David expresses so much about God in this particular Psalm. In these four verses David talks in detail about the mercy of God and how He is do forgiving. May the Lord speak to us and open our eyes and hearts to the wonders of our great Savior.

1. God has not dealt with us according to our sins.

Psalm 103:10 “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities.”

God does deal with people.
God has not dealt with us according to our sins.

If God did deal with us according to our iniquities, He would have had to punish us for them.

Iniquities comes from a word meaning perverse, amiss, crooked, to bend, twist and distort, to do wrong.
And, it came to mean faults, mischief, depravity.

Our Lord has not punished us for all our sins, nor does he deal with us as we deserve. That's the idea here, taken from the NLT.

2. God has great great mercy towards those who fear Him.

Psalm 103:11 “For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;”

It's interesting and very helpful to see this word picture about God's mercy.
Here it is… As the heavens are high above the earth.
When you think of how high the heavens are above the earth, what is the picture that comes to your mind?

But that high distance is used to describe how great His mercy is.
And David adds that it's mercy towards those who fear Him.

3. Two last truths about God's forgiveness and pity.

Psalm 103:12 “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

Psalm 103:13 “As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him.”

David paints another word picture for us.
Here it is: ”As far as the east is from the west”.
How far is that? What comes to your mind in trying to put a measurement on it?
Anyways, that's how far God has removed our transgressions from us.
That's a long way, don't you think?
In other words they are gone.

We can measure north and south using the two poles of the earth.
But we cannot measure the east from the west. There are no poles only an infinite distance if you will.
A distance that has no end.
That's where He has removed our sins to.

And, one last thing.
God pities us like a father pities His children. God pities those who fear Him.
What does this mean?

It means this, taken from the NLT: ”The LORD is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him."
Our God is like a father to His children.
He is tender and He is compassionate towards those who fear Him.

Some Questions:

1. Would you take just a moment with me to let these truths soak into your soul, or soak your soul in these truths?

2. If God had dealt with us according to our sins what would He have had to do to us since He is a just God?

3. God has purposefully used imagery that forces our minds to stand in awe of the greatness of His mercy.

4. Do you think all people fear God, or do we sometimes just say we do?

5. Fearing God is important, don't You think?

6. In these days you are living in, would You say you are living in and with the fear of God?

A Prayer:

Oh Lord, how great is Your mercy and how vast is Your forgiveness towards those who fear You. May we be in that number, Lord, may we be in that number. You tell us in Proverbs 1, that the fear of the Lord is the starting point for wisdom. Help us, Lord, to pay proper reverence to You, to be respectful and to be obedient to You. Keep us, Lord, from being those who draw near to You with our mouths but our hearts are far from You. May our mouths and our hearts line up together. You deserve it, Lord, look at who You are, and how You have not dealt with us, and how You have dealt with us. You have been merciful, forgiving, and compassionate. Thank You.

Pastor Bob Grenier
Calvary Chapel Visalia.