Scripture

You kissed my heart with forgiveness, in spite of all I’ve done…You’ve rescued me from hell and saved my life. You have crowned me with love and mercy.

~Psalms 103:3, Passion Translation

Quote

Our sins can darken our awareness of God’s love, but they cannot darken the reality of His love.

~Dana Ortlund

I love the Psalms and I am enjoying reading them in the Passion translation. Yesterday, Psalm 103 was a real blessing. I would read and pray; then read and confess, then read and rejoice…wow, what a Psalm. David said, “I bow in wonder of Your love and holiness.” It was wonder that filled my heart as I read this Psalm. David said, “LORD, you’re kind and tenderhearted and patient with people who fail You. Your love is like a flooding river overflowing its banks with kindness. You look beyond our faults. You may discipline us for our sins but it is never as much as we deserve.” I don’t know about you but David is expressing the thoughts of my heart. I read a verse or two and stopped to say, amen!

Psalm 103 makes some things abundantly clear: God’s love and mercy are unfathonable and far beyond anything we can imagine. His ability to forgive our sins and forget them is Divine. I can’t do either. I can’t forgive myself and I certainly can’t forget my sin but He has. He has separated us from out sins as far as east from west and that is infinite. When you head east you will keep going east until you turn around. This is not true of north and south because there is a North Pole and a South Pole. There is no east or west pole.

Psalm 103 is medication for my soul. I am a creature of habit and I make the same dumb mistakes over and over. Just when I think I have victory over something that vexes me, I have a relapse. The LORD’s patience with me has been phenomenal and for above my ability to understand. Why has He been so patient with me? Why has He been so patient with America? Why are people not repenting as they did in Nineveh at the preaching of Jonah? Why aren’t people turning to Christ as Savior? Why is it that 99% of Jews are unbelievers and a great deal of the 99% are agnostic? Was Sodom any worse than San Francisco or New York City? I only know two things: one is that we are here today because of God’s mercy and two–we are at His mercy. He can do whatever He wants when He wants and Beijing, Moscow, or Washington can do one thing about it.

Extra

What a beautiful day we had yesterday. Our rye grass is shinning like new money. The buttercups are putting out. We have a lot more cold weather but spring is in the forecast. Today is one of those days. I have a couple of hours this morning and then we will be on the road: Athens first for a Funeral and then to Huntsville for Josie’s soccer game. I would prefer a quiet day in the study. Pray for my neighbor Leldon Chasteen. Have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.