The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Psalm 6:4,
"Turn, Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love."
In David's time of need he calls out to God and asks for relief from his anguish on the basis of God's "unfailing love."
The two chief aspects of God's nature that he wants us to know of is his justice and his love. God's justice is precise, it is bold, it is emphatic, it is pronounced and it is striking. Consider the cross that Jesus suffered on. God decided he wanted a people for himself, that he would gather certain ones (those willing to embrace him in faith) from the teeming masses of sinful mankind. In order to accomplish that, he had to satisfy his own sense of justice for those he chooses for himself by having his Son, Jesus Christ pay the penalty for their sins. That is not an act of "tipping your hat" at justice but an expression of precise, bold, emphatic, pronounced and striking justice!
Likewise, the cross Jesus suffered on manifested the nature of the love of God. God's love is precise, it is bold, it is emphatic, it is pronounced and it is striking. Just look at what God's love for mankind drove him to do in sending his Son to make a way for us!
The greatest self-expression of God's character and nature was the expression he gave to Moses on Mt. Sinai and that he in turn shared with all of us. In Exodus 34:6-7 we read God saying of himself, "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation." Love and justice!
When David called out to God in Psalm 6, and doing so on the basis of God's "unfailing love", he points to the faithfulness of that love. God's love is faithful in that it is unfailing. We read of that nature of God's love in many places. One place that my mind always turns to is Paul's comment in 1 Corinthians 1:8-9, "He [God] will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." Paul here affirms that those who have embraced the Lord in faith need never worry about losing their communion with God as he will keep us "firm to the end" and he bases this on the faithfulness of God.
The very thing David counted on (God's faithfulness) is the very thing Paul used to assure believers they never need to worry about losing their salvation: God is faithful! His love is unfailing! What we all know to be true and what the book of Proverbs points out is, "What a person desires is unfailing love", Proverbs 19:22.
The place to find that is where David looked: to God himself!
A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know..
"Turn, Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love."
In David's time of need he calls out to God and asks for relief from his anguish on the basis of God's "unfailing love."
The two chief aspects of God's nature that he wants us to know of is his justice and his love. God's justice is precise, it is bold, it is emphatic, it is pronounced and it is striking. Consider the cross that Jesus suffered on. God decided he wanted a people for himself, that he would gather certain ones (those willing to embrace him in faith) from the teeming masses of sinful mankind. In order to accomplish that, he had to satisfy his own sense of justice for those he chooses for himself by having his Son, Jesus Christ pay the penalty for their sins. That is not an act of "tipping your hat" at justice but an expression of precise, bold, emphatic, pronounced and striking justice!
Likewise, the cross Jesus suffered on manifested the nature of the love of God. God's love is precise, it is bold, it is emphatic, it is pronounced and it is striking. Just look at what God's love for mankind drove him to do in sending his Son to make a way for us!
The greatest self-expression of God's character and nature was the expression he gave to Moses on Mt. Sinai and that he in turn shared with all of us. In Exodus 34:6-7 we read God saying of himself, "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation." Love and justice!
When David called out to God in Psalm 6, and doing so on the basis of God's "unfailing love", he points to the faithfulness of that love. God's love is faithful in that it is unfailing. We read of that nature of God's love in many places. One place that my mind always turns to is Paul's comment in 1 Corinthians 1:8-9, "He [God] will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." Paul here affirms that those who have embraced the Lord in faith need never worry about losing their communion with God as he will keep us "firm to the end" and he bases this on the faithfulness of God.
The very thing David counted on (God's faithfulness) is the very thing Paul used to assure believers they never need to worry about losing their salvation: God is faithful! His love is unfailing! What we all know to be true and what the book of Proverbs points out is, "What a person desires is unfailing love", Proverbs 19:22.
The place to find that is where David looked: to God himself!
A blog with my ruminations over the years can be found here: http://worshipfortoday.blogspot.com/
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know..
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