No doubt about it, I had a good daddy. I don’t think I ever doubted once his love for me when I was a kid. I remember when I was a Girl Scout in elementary school, I had a special project to make and I asked my father for his help – something to do with organizing the leaves I collected in the woods and had to organize them into various groups. That also happened to be the day when I had been pretty snotty at the supper table – needless to say I felt the disapproval of my father as well as the sting of the paddle on my backside.
Long after I went to bed, I laid awake, worrying about my Girl Scout project – I mean, gee, would Daddy help me finish up? I wondered that maybe he was too mad at me – I was afraid he’d forget about the project with the leaves. But the next morning, there it was on the dining room table, all finished with the leaves pasted just where I wanted them. My daddy hadn’t forgotten – and I was to never forget his goodness toward me. I learned then that my father could quickly put his anger behind him… I also learned that my daddy’s true nature was to show kindness and goodness.
Our Heavenly Father is so very much the same way. God loves to be generous. He loves to show mercy and forgiveness. In the Psalms it says that He abounds to show mercy. He is rich in His unfailing love. And in Exodus chapter 34, He is abundant in goodness and faithfulness. Now in contrast to that… that same verse in Exodus says He is slow to anger. In other words, He is not quick to get angry. He is patient, He’s long-suffering, and He’s slow to anger. Wow, does that speak powerfully of the goodness and graciousness of our wonderful God!
Dr. John Piper puts it this way. He says, “God's anger must be released by a stiff safety lock, but God's mercy has a hair trigger. Isn’t that great? There is a stark contrast between the sluggishness of God's anger and the abundant effusiveness of His love.”
And, friend, surely you know this to be true in your own life. You’ve quoted the 23rd Psalm time and again, especially that part “Surely goodness and mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life.” God’s mercy and grace pursues you. He never stops doing good to His people. John Piper explains that God doesn’t do good to His children sometimes and bad to them, other times. He keeps on doing good and He will never stop doing good for 10,000 ages of ages. And when things seem to be going bad, that does not mean God has ceased from doing good – it means He is shifting things around to get them in place for more good if we would but continue to trust Him.
God pursues us with great joy… He doesn’t pursue us begrudgingly. Jeremiah 32 reminds us, “God says, ‘I will rejoice in doing them good.’” Having a hard time believing that today? Are you lying awake, wondering and worrying if He’s holding a grudge? Then rest in these promises I’ve shared from His Word, because your God is slow and sluggish to anger, but He’s abounding and abundant in love and mercy.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
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