THE KING’S BUSINESS
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that when we turn to God’s grace we do not reap all that we have sown in the way of wrong doing, neither do our-sins find us out to the extent that we pay for all the sins we have committed. Many com plain that God has dealt unjustly with them, that He has made them suffer more than they deserve. If they were not blind, they would see that no man has suffered as much as he deserves. vs. 11-19. “For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. A s far as the east is from the west, so. far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord ,pitieth them that fear him. For he know- eth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. A s for man his days are as grass: (;) as a flower in the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy o f the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteous ness unto children’s children; to such as keep his covenant, and to those that remem ber his ' commandments ( precepts) to do them. The Lord hath prepared ( estab lished )1 his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth ov'er all.” The Psalmist sets forth the greatness of God’s mercy by a wonderful figure: it is as great as the heaven is high. The astronomical heaven is so high that it bewilders all our powers of comprehension to try to understand it. Some of the stars are so far away that it has taken the light that travels from them toward us with incredible rapidity 6000 years to reach us. It is impossible to measure the heavenly distances; and just so it is impossible to measure the greatness of God’s mercy. As a result of the infinite mercy of God, when our transgressions are forgiven they are removed so far from us that we and our transgressions will never meet again. God’s feeling toward them that fear Him, that is,| toward them that have a reverent regard for him that shows itself in obedience to His Word, is the feeling of a father toward his children
with the revelation that He made of Him self in Jesus Christ (John 1:17, 18; 14:6). vs. 8-10. "The LORD is merciful (full of compassion) and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide : (;) Neither will He keep His anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins: (,) nor rewarded us accord ing to ( after) our iniquities.” David has been praising Jehovah for the wonderful things He does. He now praises Him for the wonderful person He is. Four things about His character of which the verses that follow are a development and illustra tion: ( 1 ) “Jehovah is mercifnl,” or as the revised version renders it “full of com passion.” The thought of the Hebrew word is “compassion” toward the suffering and needy (cf. Psa. 86:15; 145:8; Ex. 34:5-7; Num. 14:18; Neh. 9:17; Isa. 55:7; Matt. 9:36, etc.) (2) “Jehovah is gracious.” The Hebrew word translated “gracious” means, showing favor or kind ness to others. Jehovah rejoices to show favor and manifest His kindness toward all toward whom it is possible to show favor and manifest kindness. (3) “Jehovah is slow to anger.” The God of the Bible and the God of individual experience is a patient God. He bears long with our wrong doing (Joel 2 :13; Nahum 1:3), It is well for us that He is, or there would be no hope for any of us. (4) “Jehovah is plenteous in mercy.” Verses 9 to 19 are simply an exemplification of the qualities mentioned in verse 8 . In great love Jeho vah chastens us for our sins (Heb. 12:16), because chastening is jusf what we need, but “He will not always chide.” His chas- tenings are short of duration, but His mercy, grace and benefits are never ending (cf. Ps. 7:35; Micah 7:18, 19). Though He deals with our sins, He does not give us all our sins deserve. If He “rewarded us according to our iniquities,” there would be no hope for any of us. The great principles that a man’s sins will surely find him out (Num. 32:33) and “whatso ever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal. 617) are true, but they are limited in their outworking by the grace of God, so
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