Forgiveness (Abide Devotion for August 24, 2016)

Psalm 103:6-18

⁶ The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.

⁷ He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel:

⁸ The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.

⁹ He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;

¹⁰ he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;

¹² as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

¹³ As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;

¹⁴ for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵ The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field;

¹⁶ the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.

¹⁷ But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children—

¹⁸ with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. ^[1]

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What is striking in this section of the psalm is the beautiful description of the Lord’s compassionate forgiveness.  He has mercy on us, not treating us as we have deserved.  He has removed the guilt of our sins as far from us as He is above His creation.  And His forgiving love is completely trustworthy.  As humans, we are present on the earth for a short time.  But the Lord’s compassionate mercy and forgiveness and love are eternal.

It’s easy to take such basic biblical teaching for granted.  The Lord’s love and forgiveness are so central and foundational to our understanding of God’s character that it’s easy to run right over such passages as this.  So it’s good to meditate on one of the key biblical references that speak to this central truth:  God’s eternal love is made manifest in our lives in his forgiving mercy.

So my prayer today is one of confession and thanksgiving.  I try to make confession part of my prayers every morning, but today I do so in light of the promises and images in these verses, envisioning my guilt being part far from me.  And in keeping in the spirit of this psalm, my prayer is also one of praise for this great gift.  Praise be to God for His mercy!

What is the Word leading you to pray about today?

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^[1] The New International Version. (2011). (Ps 103:6–18). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.