His Grace, Righteousness, and Mercy

Has life got you down?  God cares.  Why not turn to Him?

July 30, 2021

"Gracious is the LORD and righteous; yea, our God is merciful."

Psalm 116:5

What a wonderful verse!  In it, we see the wisdom and fairness of our God.  The two bookends of this verse are God’s grace and His mercy.  And between these two favors, we see His righteousness.

 

He is Gracious
In this 116th Psalm, the writer asked Jehovah to deliver his soul from the terrible event he was facing.  Because God is gracious, He met the needs of the psalmist.  Not because the psalmist deserved His help but because God is gracious by nature.  He loves His child, and as a loving Father, He helps.  Remember, we do not receive God’s grace because we deserve it, or it would not be grace.  All grace is very undeserved.  The psalmist knew God to be gracious, and therefore he asked for God’s help.

 

He is Righteous
God only does that which is right.  At the cross, we see his grace and His righteousness mingled together as He paid for our sin.  God always does what is right.  We can go to Him to ask our requests of Him, knowing that He will only do what is right and what is the best thing for us because of His righteousness.  God will never forget His promises to His child because of His Holiness.  We can always trust Him because He is faithful, just, and dependable.

 

He is Merciful
Our God is full of compassion because of His mercy toward us.  “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.  For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust” (Psalm 103:13-14).  He knows what we can handle and allows no more to be put on us than we can manage with His help (1 Corinthians 10:13).

It’s helpful to see these three qualities together here.  Charles Spurgeon said, “See how the attribute of righteousness seems to stand between two guards of love: – gracious, righteous, merciful.  The sword of justice is scabbarded in a jeweled sheath of grace.”[1]

In this verse, I have learned that My God is Gracious, Righteous, and Merciful.

 

 

 

[1] Charles H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, the electronic version in eSword.