Gospel Reflections #1093: What sort of God do you believe in?

Psalm 103:8–10 ‘The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; he will not always chide, nor will he harbour his anger for ever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.’

This is one of the finest passages in the Old Testament, beautifully expressing God’s infinite love and generosity towards sin.

It teaches us just how merciful and forgiving God is in the face of human weakness and sinfulness.

This passage is a direct quotation from Exodus 34:6, the chapter famous for Moses’ Ten Commandments.

These are the words God spoke to Moses to reveal His very nature, immediately after the Israelites had committed the grave sin of idolatry by making the golden calf.

It declares that God’s nature is not characterised by ‘judgement’ or ‘wrath’, but that ‘mercy’ and ‘grace’ come first.

Although God may become angry at human disobedience, He does not hold onto that anger forever.

God’s purpose is not to destroy humanity, but to restore our relationship with Him and lead us back to the right path.

If God were to mete out an equivalent punishment—‘an eye for an eye’—for every sin and mistake committed by humankind, not a single person would survive. 

However, because God knows our weakness, He does not impose the punishment our sins deserve, but treats us with mercy far exceeding what we deserve.

We tend to misunderstand God as a ‘frightening being who immediately inflicts divine punishment when we fail’, but the Lord portrayed in the Bible is one who possesses deep compassion, just as a parent feels for their child.

Furthermore, the promise that ‘we will not be punished according to our sins’ was fully fulfilled in the New Testament era when Jesus Christ bore the full punishment for our sins on the cross in our place.

What sort of God do you believe in?

As each of us expresses this scripture through our own personal experiences, our joy will grow to immeasurable proportions.

AUTHOR'S BIO: This Gospel Reflections page is written by Masae San, who resides in Hiroshima, Japan. Masae is a dedicated student of the Bible with a deep passion for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She shares her daily reflections on Gospel perspectives to reach out to others and spread the message of God's true love through a Christ-centered approach. We are sharing her insights here so that you, too, can experience the joy that comes from knowing and understanding the true Gospel and the love of God through Jesus Christ.