God remembers - He shows mercy

Verse 8 of our focus passage (Psalm 103) is a wonder:

The Lord is compassionate and gracious,    slow to anger, abounding in love. (v. 8)

We've noted so far this week that God remembers that we are dust....that He remembers that we are needy....now we will study His mercy to those (all of us) who don't deserve that mercy.

First, the Lord is compassionate. What does compassion really mean? Well, the dictionary says that it's "deep awareness of the suffering of another, coupled with the wish to relieve it." We have so many examples in the Word of God's compassion.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36)

He sees us as we are, helpless sinners without a shepherd, and He loves us.

This verse also reminds us that the Lord is gracious. He gives us what we don't deserve.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God... (Ephesians 2:8)

 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.  (James 1:17)

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. (I Corinthians 12:4) 

And the Lord is slow to anger....

The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; (Numbers 14:18a)

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (II Peter 3:9)

He is so patient when we have our epic failures. Abraham ran ahead of God in going to Egypt, instead of staying in the land he was promised. Moses ran ahead of God when he killed the Egyptian who was persecuting a Hebrew....when we run ahead of God, or when we lag behind in a task He has blessed us with, these failures don't cause a permanent separation. God is patient, and He remembers we are dust.....
Lastly, God abounds in love. We sing about and read eagerly about His abundant love. Abundance means "great, plentiful, full to overflowing." There is no other love like God's love: when He saves us, He saves us completely. When He forgives us, He forgives all of our sins. When He sets us free, we are free forever.
I read once that Charles Spurgeon noted "all the world tastes of His sparing mercy, those who hear the gospel partake of His ... infinite and everlasting mercy."
Isn't that a profound way to put it? God spares the world in order to give everyone the chance to be saved. He gives His children the infinite and everlasting mercy that He promised for those who believe.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;    his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning;    great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23)

For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them. (Deuteronomy 4:31)

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.  (Titus 3:4-7)

Yes, God remembers, and He knows us, and He shows mercy to those who don't deserve it.
Amen!