Psalm 103:8-11

"The LORD is merciful 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 according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him."

"Modern" thinking paints a far different picture of the LORD God Almighty than do these verses. These verses speak of His grace, His mercy, and His anger. Generally folks want to believe that God is merciful and gracious. But His anger is not often considered to be real or something to be reckoned with. The first two qualities are considered to be at irreconcilable odds with the idea of His anger. Regardless of that, though, people often think that since He is merciful He will ignore their wrongdoing, shrug His shoulders, wink, and allow them into His presence.

But His anger is a real thing. And this passage suggests that which makes Him angry; our sin. Other passages teach that we all have sinned. There is nobody on the face of this earth that is not a sinner in God’s eyes. We are not considered sinners by God because we commit sin, though. It is true that we do sin. We speak of "shortcomings" or "human nature" when it comes to our sin. Perhaps we hope that if we paint a smiley face on it the seriousness of it will diminish. But, the fact is that we sin because we are sinners. It is human nature. We are born this way. And there is literally nothing we can do about it, just like we can do nothing about our eye color. Sin is at the very core of our being. It is the nature that rebels against God. We sin because of our sin nature, and God is angry at our sin.

Some might say, Why is God angry with us? If we cannot help it, then what reason does He have to be angry? If we think about it, since He made us He has the right to establish the rules. He has told us what is sin. Regardless of the reason, we fail to follow after what pleases Him. But the answer to these questions is also found in the nature of God. He is supremely holy. He cannot stand the presence of sin. So we have before us our inability to do anything about our sin, and His inability to stand sin in His presence. Taken together, we are left with a sense of hopelessness. His standard is too high for us, and we are to weak to meet it. What will become of us?

To resolve this dilemma, the only one that is in any position to act is God. If He determines to resolve the matter, happy for us! If He refuses to do anything we are doomed. The verses above suggest the answer. God is gracious and merciful. This is God’s character. But His mercy does not make room for just winking at sin. For another of His characteristics, His justice, still demands that sin be paid for. It demands that the judgment, already pronounced, be carried out. Psalm 85:10 says, "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other." This is what we need! Where is this place?

God’s wrath against our sin, His anger, was poured out on His Son, Jesus Christ. While Jesus hung on the cross, God’s justice was satisfied against the sin of mankind. Jesus’ last words on the cross were a triumphant shout, "It is finished!" God’s judgment had fallen. Hebrews tells us that for the joy that was set before Him Jesus endured the cross. He knew that His death would bring about the satisfaction of justice, and provide a way by which God could be gracious and merciful to sinful mankind.

So God did take action! And it cost Him dearly. He became a man, and died a horrible death at the hands of those He created. During His death God’s wrath was poured out, and His justice satisfied.

But some refuse to believe this. Some don’t believe that Jesus’ death was that significant. Nothing more than a horrible death on a planet famous for horrible death. Others say that His death was all well and good, but we need to do more to satisfy God. It just cannot be that simple, that free, they reason. But Romans 6:23 says, "... the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Notice, it is a gift! He did the work, and is now offering a free gift to us. Still some would say it is not that simple. In Romans 2:4 Paul asks, "... despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?"

Psalm 103 says, "He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities." We have not been dealt with by God to the full extent of what we deserve for our sin. But, He dealt with Jesus according to our sins. We have not received the reward we deserve for our iniquities. But, He rewarded Jesus according to our iniquities. For us the psalmist writes, "... as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him." God paid an awful price to be able to be just, and merciful and gracious. It is left to us to trust that what He did when He judged Jesus Christ for our sin is enough to gain us eternity in His presence. Doing so makes us recipients of His grace and mercy. To do otherwise is an insult to God.

HJK