“All I know most surely about morality and obligation I owe to football”,
Psalm 103 Part 2
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:11,12Last week we joined the Psalmist in listing the things God had done for him. Today we will focus on the character of God as revealed in this Psalm
• Righteousness and just
• compassionate and gracious,
• slow to anger, abounding in love.
In an unfair world it is a great encouragement to know that God is just. Evil may seem to be prospering but we know that ultimately there will be justice. I love the silly Limerick by Alan Hunter
God made the world in the beginning
But man spoiled it all by sinning
We all know the story
Will end up in glory
But at present the other side’s winning!
It is good too to be reminded that God is “slow to anger, abounding in love”. Sometimes we misrepresent God terribly. I once interviewed an athlete who told me she had grown up going to church every Sunday but, she continued, “God always felt like a judge. I always felt that I was being punished by God. You only felt God’s presence if you were bad and you knew he was mad at you”.
Years later a friend took her to church where she saw a different God: “I began to see who God was. God wasn’t this judge with a gavel condemning me every time I did wrong. He was a God who wanted a loving relationship, an ongoing relationship and a commitment that was based in love and joy”.
How do we react to a God like that? By praising him…
Praise the LORD, you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.
Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.
Praise the LORD, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.
Praise the LORD, my soul. Ps 103: 20-22