“The Lord is gracious and compassionate; Slow to anger and great in mercy.”

Welcome to week two in our “Who is God” series. And what a great verse to start off our week on! “The Lord is gracious and compassionate; slow to anger and great in mercy.” How does that make you feel when you read it? I don’t know about you, but it makes me take a deep breath. Some key words that tell us about our God in this verse are “gracious”, “compassionate”, “slow to anger”, and “great in mercy.” Let’s break each one down to better understand these attributes of our God.

Gracious: this is the Hebrew word hannun which is used 13 times in the Old Testament and is only used as an attribute of God. It is more than just being kind or generous. It is the active hearing and responding to the cry of a person in your debt. It is the compassionate meeting of needs that is neither earned nor deserved. This is the graciousness of our GOOD God, that He would meet our needs even when we are deeply in the debt of sin. We have nothing to offer in exchange. Yet, His grace is poured out freely on us because His love covers a multitude of sins.

Compassionate: this is the Hebrew word rahum and means to be full of compassion. Again, this is a word that is primarily only use of God (with one possible exception). It is also used 13 times in the Old Testament and is derived from a root word that means “to love deeply”. This word is not just that God looks at us and is moved by our troubles, but that He gets into the muck with us. He is compassionate to the point of soul-deep affection and care. He is merciful to us in a way that is not distant, but near and intimate.

Slow to anger: Our God is slow to anger, He is long-suffering. Take a moment and think about what that means. He is slow, patient, and long-suffering. He doesn’t fly off the handle at the first provocation. He doesn’t get angry at something small or miniscule. He COOSES patience and love over anger and wrath. That is the God we serve. So many see God through a cultural lens of anger and wrath. But our God is not like that. He does get angry, but it takes much to get Him there because His perfect and eternal love overflows. And when He does get angry, we can know with certainty that it is from a place of righteousness and love, not pride, selfishness, or foolishness like the anger of man often is.  

Great in mercy: This feels almost like a repeat of “compassionate” but it actually takes compassion a step further. The word translated here as “mercy” can also be translated “lovingkindness”. It is the Hebrew word hesed and one definition for it is “zeal toward another”. So not only is God compassionate toward us in a close and intimate way, but He has great zeal toward us- great affection, mercy, and lovingkindness. He is the deep kind of love- the kind that sees all the ugly parts and still looks at you with joy. He is the kind of love our souls crave.  

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Friends, do you see why our God is so very worthy of praise? He is so good. In fact, the word good just doesn’t do Him justice. He is everything we long for, everything we were created to crave. He is the missing piece for everything our souls, our minds, our hearts, and our bodies need. He is our life source and the giver of every good gift.  

And so often we miss it. So often we grow comfortable, apathetic, stagnant in our faith. We look at praise and time in His presence as a to-do item to check off the list. We look at time with God’s people as an appointment. We sing the songs but our heart is elsewhere and our mind is drifting. But do you see, even just a glimpse of how wonderful He really is? Do you comprehend it? Do you feel it in your chest?  

Let the truth of our God and all the MANY ways He is so worthy of our fidelity, love, and praise fill your mind and heart today. Let the truth overtake you. And as you sit in the truth of who He is, let it soothe away the fear, the anger, the loneliness, and the pain. Our God is so good, so praise worthy, so big, so eternal, so amazing… He is everything we need. Wherever you are at this week, whatever troubles sit at our door or weigh heavy on your mind, bring them into the light of who God is and let that light overshadow the darkness.

Our God is so in love with you. Know that. Feel that. Let that truth sink deep into not just your mind, but your heart and soul. And then live from a place of identity in who He says you are this week. He is so, so good. And because He is so, so good, we can rest.  

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Holy Yahweh,

I worship You. I praise You. You are the Alpha and Omega. You are everything I need. Let my life be an offering of praise to You who is the only one worthy. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. You are before all things and above all things. I offer You my life, my heart, my everything. Show me how to live a life of worship to You every day.  

Amen

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