Psalm 103:13-18
Again we see here that God is faithful to those who fear Him. The love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear Him, and extends to the children’s children of those who obey His
commandments.
When I first came to the Lord and started reading the Bible, I started in the Old Testament. Needless to say, I got a very healthy respect for, and fear of, God after reading about how He delivered those who feared Him and took out those who stood in His way. God was not to be ignored or trifled with and it was best to just do what He said.
Then I read about Jesus in the New Testament who is the embodiment of God in the flesh (Colossians 2:9). As Jesus famously stated to Philip, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” I found as the more I read the 4 Gospels in particular, my impression of God began to soften. I still feared God, yet I began to see this tender, compassionate side to God as displayed through Jesus. Jesus was not out to ‘judge’ the sinner but was rather here to ‘save’ the sinner. All judgment fell on Him. In God’s love for mankind, He died for them on the cross that the demands of justice could be fully satisfied and that we could be saved. Mercy truly triumphed over judgment. The great exchange took place as Jesus became the offering for our sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
So did God change or was my impression or understanding of Him just incomplete? Armed with this new revelation of God’s loving nature, I read through the Old Testament again and began to see God’s love sprinkled throughout in His merciful dealings with all those whose deserved His judgment. (Keep in mind that we all deserve His judgment because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the garden.)Yet, there wasn’t one instance where people were not warned ahead of time of what would happen should they continue in their disobedience and He would often give people time to repent as in the cases of Achan (Joshua 7) and Korah (Numbers 16) who had all night to reconsider their stances and come clean. Sometimes God deals slowly with wayward people, giving them time to repent, because He is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9). But should we remain obstinate, God’s judgment will surely fall and the consequences of our sin will catch up to us. As the Apostle Paul stated in Galatians 6:7-9:
“Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”
Galatians 6:7-9 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/gal.6.7-9.NLT
Notice we are told we cannot mock the ‘justice’ of God. The justice of God demands payment for sin. Thank God that through Jesus, payment was made in full for those who accept and fear the Lord. He did all the work - we have but to acknowledge His Lordship, ask for His forgiveness, and receive His mercy and salvation.
If you have not done this yet, what are you waiting for?
commandments.
When I first came to the Lord and started reading the Bible, I started in the Old Testament. Needless to say, I got a very healthy respect for, and fear of, God after reading about how He delivered those who feared Him and took out those who stood in His way. God was not to be ignored or trifled with and it was best to just do what He said.
Then I read about Jesus in the New Testament who is the embodiment of God in the flesh (Colossians 2:9). As Jesus famously stated to Philip, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” I found as the more I read the 4 Gospels in particular, my impression of God began to soften. I still feared God, yet I began to see this tender, compassionate side to God as displayed through Jesus. Jesus was not out to ‘judge’ the sinner but was rather here to ‘save’ the sinner. All judgment fell on Him. In God’s love for mankind, He died for them on the cross that the demands of justice could be fully satisfied and that we could be saved. Mercy truly triumphed over judgment. The great exchange took place as Jesus became the offering for our sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
So did God change or was my impression or understanding of Him just incomplete? Armed with this new revelation of God’s loving nature, I read through the Old Testament again and began to see God’s love sprinkled throughout in His merciful dealings with all those whose deserved His judgment. (Keep in mind that we all deserve His judgment because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the garden.)Yet, there wasn’t one instance where people were not warned ahead of time of what would happen should they continue in their disobedience and He would often give people time to repent as in the cases of Achan (Joshua 7) and Korah (Numbers 16) who had all night to reconsider their stances and come clean. Sometimes God deals slowly with wayward people, giving them time to repent, because He is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9). But should we remain obstinate, God’s judgment will surely fall and the consequences of our sin will catch up to us. As the Apostle Paul stated in Galatians 6:7-9:
“Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”
Galatians 6:7-9 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/gal.6.7-9.NLT
Notice we are told we cannot mock the ‘justice’ of God. The justice of God demands payment for sin. Thank God that through Jesus, payment was made in full for those who accept and fear the Lord. He did all the work - we have but to acknowledge His Lordship, ask for His forgiveness, and receive His mercy and salvation.
If you have not done this yet, what are you waiting for?
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