Our Merciful God

Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, 4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, 5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

6 The Lord executes righteousness And justice for all who are oppressed. 7 He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel. 8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. 9 He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. 10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; 12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. 13 As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him. 14 For He [a]knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.

What is mercy? English: compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power; compassion, pity, or benevolence:

Strongs: 1) Eleos: the outward manifestation of pity, it assumes need on the part of him who receives it. It is used of God, who is rich in mercy (Eph. 2: 4

Ephesians 2:4 NKJV

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

2) Oiktirmos-pity, compassion , is again used of God who is the “Father of mercies, 2 COr 1:3

This Psalm of David, the writer of many of the Psalms. This Psalm is a conversation or a commandment to David’s soul to bless the Lord.

As we are walking through the attributes of God’s nature, we see them played out in the hearts and minds of men and women who often are going or have gone through painful situations.

Here we see David commanding his soul to not forget (vs 2) all of the benefits of the Lord. HE then begins to list out all of the wonderful things that God has been for and to him, forgiveness, redemption, healer and more.

But we want to discuss the curios attribute of tender mercies listed in vs. 4. David recounts that the Lord “crowns” us with tender mercies. WOW!

We have a working definition of mercies, but let me remind you that mercies are not a reward, but they come from the generous heart of God. We discussed the generosity of God on last week. The mercies of god, according to Lamentations 3, are new every morning and never fail us. The mercies of God keep us from being consumed. How then are we to respond to these mercies that we cannot earn? Look at the pattern David gives. Bless the Lord. In vs. 8, David proclaims that the Lord is merciful and gracious, and plenteous in mercy! Can we bless God for being plenteous in mercy? We can because that means that accordingto Heb. when we come the throne to find help in the time of our need, we wont hear God tell us that sorry we are all out of mercy for today! Hallelujah! We won’t have to worry that those who are higher than us in society will hog up all the mercy and leave nothing for us. We can rest assured that no matter our station in life, whether high or low, rich or poor, when we call onthe name of the Lord and ask for His mercy, He will surely hear and not only will He hear us, but He is gracious to give mercy of wave after wave. For those who are far from God but cry out His name, His mercy will show up, js to let you know that God is not far from you. For those who are frustrated in your faith walk right now and ready throw int he towel, His mercy is there to refresh and renew you. According to vs 9-11, God mercy is great to those who fear Him? If this fear a fear of cowering in the corner and hiding from God? No this fear is reverential in regards to the holiness and righteousness of the almighty God. His mercy is there for you. His mercy doesn’t see color, rank or stature. His mercy has no expiration date! If you are listening today and your soul is depressed and discouraged, do what David does, have a conversation and tell your soul to bless the Lord. His mercy never fails, His grace is a benefit! Thank God for grace. Psalm 23 reminds us that “surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life! Hallelujah for grace and mercy! You may be thinking that you don’t need Gods mercy. I assure you that you do. Mercy shows up when we should receive wrath. Mercy reminds God that we are but dust, and deserve another chance.! Mercy shows up and we get our lives redeemed from the pit of depression. Mercy shows up and we receive lovingkindness and God’s longsuffering! Mercy shows up and we get another chance! Mercy shows up and causes us to come to the cross in submission time and time again, knowing that it is only the Love of an Almighty God that can have any chance of saving us, sheltering us, redeeming our lives and saving us! This, is our merciful God. Any other god that you are claiming or holding on to right now, cannot make this claim. According to scripture that god that you are holding onto cannot even speak to save you. But our merciful God will call our name in the midst of the storm raging around us, he will speak in the midnight hour when our pillows are soaked with the tears of disappointment and pain and His mercy will bring comfort and calmness.

David commands his soul not to forget the benefits of God. Why this caution? When we begin to drift from remembering what God has done and who God is, we fall prey to all of the enemy’s tactics. We must continually, according to Joshua 1:8 “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

For it is only when we fill our hearts, mind and soul with the goodness of God that we will experience good success