“But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, Longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth.”
(Ps.86:15)
Out of the infinite fullness of a long-suffering God—from the bottomless well of His compassion and grace—flows the abundant mercy we must have.
Why would God be merciful? Why would He be long-suffering?
You know what “long-suffering” is, don’t you? Turn the word around—it is to suffer long with a problem or a person—and in this case God finds the problem is with the person—our sinful heart! We are stiff-necked, stubborn, self-willed and self-absorbed. Thankfully, Almighty God is patient with us. He endures that we ignore Him, or worse deny Him, or even worse hate Him.
Why? Because that is His nature. God is love, and His love reaches out to those who merit His wrath.
Christ’s nail-scarred hand reaches out to lift us from our sin and deliver us from judgment, and what do we do? We slap it away. Then He reaches out again, and we jerk back. Still, His long-suffering mercy is extended—for how long?
Not forever. If we insist on our own way, there will come a time that even the patience of God reaches its limit and in holiness, compassion gives way to condemnation.
How does grace compare to mercy? Think of it this way—grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve—heaven—while mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve—hell.
Thank God for His mercy and long-suffering!
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