Psalm 103: 8
The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
This is a song written by David. David was (and is) a friend of God. He walked and talked with God and because of that he knew Him better than most people. David certainly put God to the test but he also learned to trust God for his every need. The importance of this is that we can feel assured that David is a very good candidate to speak about the nature of God. He experienced God’s forgiveness even before Jesus paid for the sin of the world. He witnessed God’s strength and power. When it comes to describing God, though, David leads off with compassion. Jesus was compassionate. There are no less than thirteen places in the gospels where Jesus either teaches about compassion or is moved by it.
What does this really mean to our lives though? The bottom line is that God is love. His way of interacting with the world and with each of us is through love. It’s who He is. As you listen to church people you sometimes hear discussion of a wrathful God or a vengeful God. However, when He is discussed by the people that have known Him best, like Jesus and David, He is always described in terms of love. That is God’s essential nature. He abounds in lovingkindness and is slow to anger. What we sometimes do, though, is to super-impose our scar tissue onto Him. When we believe ourselves to be vile creatures then we create an image of God that is angry and prosecutorial. In contrast, when we are able to look at God outside of our own filters and lenses then we see Him as He is, loving and kind. And believe me, when a person begins to see the Lord, our God and Father, by His true nature, all things in that person’s life change. A critical nature can change in a moment. A harsh person may put on the robes of graciousness. One who is selfish and self-centered can at once become a person who puts the needs of others first.
This is our first and foremost meditation, that we ruminate on the goodness and kindness of God; our prayer – that we may know the love of God. This is the first issue. Once we come to an understanding in our hearts, rather than our minds, that God not only is love but that He loves us individually, then truly all things do become possible. One can never understand the Bible if they do not first understand the original premise of the book – that God is love. It is, therefore, imperative that the Bible teachers to whom you subscribe have an integrated understanding of this first principle. If they do not, their teaching will be skewed.
Grab this concept with both hands. Make it your own. It is the only rightful foundation for a relationship with the Father. Anything else will cause you to misfire. Our God is love and it is with love that He communes with us. I pray, let His love saturate your being, may it be absorbed by every cell of your body. Amen.
