PSALM 103:8-14 – The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.”
THEME OF THE DAY: HOW GOD DEALS WITH US. To live the Christian life with the joy the Lord promises us, the confidence He desires for us, and the courageous influence He commands from us, the most important and necessary element in our lives is to see ourselves, then deal with ourselves, as the Lord does.
When it comes to seeing and dealing with ourselves, there are three ways we may. Two are spiritually disastrous and one is not only correct but will determine the quality of our walks with the Lord.
First, we may see ourselves as “not too bad” and give ourselves too much leeway when it comes to not seeing the heinous nature of sin, the absolute hatred of God against sin, and His blazing holiness exposing sin. We may quickly determine if we are too easy on ourselves by the tolerance of any sin while living in spiritual indifference and being okay with this serious spiritual illness.
The other disastrous way we may see and deal with ourselves is to be “too hard” always beating ourselves up for failing the Lord. In this overly sensitive position, we never think we repent enough; we question our sincerity with the Lord, and we are constantly searching for undealt with sin in our lives. In this painful spiritual condition, we are so focused on our failures, we don’t see grace, love, mercy and forgiveness. We are entrenched in the sin of unbelief, living in spiritual bondage, doubting who God is and how He says He deals with us.
The third way to see and deal with ourselves is Biblical and the way God does. This is the path to joy, confidence, and bold Christian living. It is revealed in today’s scripture. As one reads the Psalm, notice two things about the Lord. First, how He does treat us – not according to our sins. He did that once with Christ never to be repeated. So if God doesn’t treat us according to our sins, neither must we.
Another truth from this portion of Psalm 103 is what is behind the way the Lord deals with us. It is through His character of steadfast love, compassion, and pity. And this is where we must start in seeing how God deals with us; through who He declares Himself to be. Yes, God does not deal with us according to our sins because He deals with us according to who He is – the God of steadfast love, compassion, great pity, and plentiful redemption.
So when we see ourselves, let’s strive to not do so by thinking we are either in being too easy or too hard on ourselves. Instead, make the Word of God our standard of self-evaluation as it reveals the God who treats us out of the abundance of His glorious and grace-filled character.
PRAYER: “Father, help me to always see myself through the lens of how You see and treat me.”
QUOTE: “Make sure we build our theology of God by what He says of Himself, not what we may think.”
In the affection of Christ Jesus,
Pastor Jim