Psalms 103:8 – The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. The more we meditate on the attributes of the Lord, the more reasons we will find to praise Him for who He really is and what He does for us. King David found the Lord to be compassionate, gracious and full of lovingkindness. David knew these from his personal experiences. When David was lonely and isolated, the Lord showed compassion to him, brought him out of it and made him to live among the people as their king. When he committed sin, the Lord showed him grace which he did not merit. He forgave David and restored him. David knew that the Lord was slow to anger to him for all his disobedience and dealt with him with mercy and patience. When David was fearful of the enemy and had serious problem of insecurity, the Lord strengthened him and took away all his fears. These experiences made David to sing to the Lord from the bottom of his heart. His songs were not mere verbatim, but thoughts which emanated from a grateful heart full of praise to the Lord. David’s songs of praise are a great challenge to us today to get to know the Lord intimately and experience Him in our daily lives. When we thus meditate on what He has done for us, we will realize that we exist only because of His compassion and lovingkindness. In spite of our weaknesses and foolishness, the Lord bears with us, shows mercy and extends His grace to us. In His mercy the Lord did not give us punishment for our sins of commissions and omissions. In His grace, He forgave us and gave us abundance of chances to get back to His track to serve Him.
Dear reader, have you lately taken time to get to know the Lord intimately? As you get to know Him, you will be aware of the extent of mercy, grace and lovingkindness that He shows to you day by day to keep you on his track? Do you realize that all that you are and have been are only because of the grace and mercy of the Lord? In spite of our failures, it has pleased Him to make use of us for His glory. In spite of our disobedience, like that of Jonah, Samson and Peter, He still extends His grace and mercy to us to give us more and more opportunities to serving Him. When we are aware of the benevolence of the Lord, we ought to take to heart serious commitment to following Him in full obedience and love. When we continue to waste away the opportunities He gives us to serving Him, we waste the rewards that would have been ours. When we do not touch the lives of other people for the sake of the Lord, we loose the opportunity to impact other lives. These are all eternal losses for us. But still God is pleased to forgive the wastage we have caused to Him and give us newer opportunities. Perhaps we are so much involved in our daily affairs, needs and search after the means to meet our future needs that we do not have the time to get to know the Lord and understand His plans for us. We thus become like the soldiers who are entangled in the affairs of the world and involved in our daily cares instead of being in the active service of our commander-in-chief. We need to know that when we fight the battles for the Lord, He will meet all our daily needs, and enable us to continue to fight for Him.
Psalms 103:17 – But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children. Thought for TodayThe Lord deals with His children in compassion, mercy and grace to give them opportunity to humble themselves and be grateful before Him.
