"The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy."
Psalm 145:8
“The LORD is gracious,”
Our LORD is a God of grace. We define “grace” for young believers as “God’s unmerited favor.” Due to no merit of our own, He gives us His favor. This statement “Jehovah is gracious,” is pointing to His natural inclination to show favor. This is what He does. He stoops down to us to meet us in our need. If you by faith, have placed your trust in the Lord for salvation, you have experienced God’s grace (Ephesians 2:8-9).
“And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him,” (Isaiah 30:18).
“And full of compassion;
Because the LORD is gracious, “whenever He sees misery, His eye affects His heart.”1 He sees the sinner in his need He desires to help him and to comfort him. It is a shame when the sinner rejects the help of the only One who can help him indeed.
“But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth,” (Psalm 86:15).
“Slow to anger,”
God doesn’t react to sinners with a hair trigger. No, He wants to help the sinner, even when the sinner rejects everything our great LORD will do for him.
“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,” (Romans 5:6-8).
God is not impatiently pacing the golden streets of heaven, looking for the opportunity to zap the sinner! No, He is patiently waiting for the sinner to repent. God is “slow to anger.”
“The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy,” (Psalm 103:8).
“And of great mercy.”
All of these blessings and our LORD is merciful!
“For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds,” (Psalm 57:10).
These four truths convince me of God’s ongoing care for me:
His grace,
His compassion,
His slowness to anger,
His great mercy!
Believers, let’s rejoice in God’s care for us!
1. Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible, the electronic version in eSword.