Grateful for What We Haven't Received
The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbour his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
But from everlasting to everlasting
the LORD’s love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children’s children —
with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.
Thanksgiving … and Canadians are encouraged to focus their thoughts on all that God has provided. We have received an amazing bounty here in this marvellous country. We have wealth which may only be envied in the most of the world. Transportation, clothing, food, shelter … we are rich beyond the imaginations of most of the world. I do trust that as we gather with our families tomorrow, that we will remember God's goodness in permitting us to live in such a rich country. However, I would now focus attention on another aspect of God's rich grace toward us – both as individuals and as a nation. I would ask you to remember to be grateful for what we haven't received. In the Psalms we read of God's goodness. Those marvellous prayers instruct us in a most amazing manner. We ignore them to our own detriment. Consider the 103rd Psalm.
The Nature Of Our God [vv. 8,9] ‑ What a rich, vivid description of God and of His attitude toward us. In these first two verses of our text is found a bountiful description of the nature of God. First, He is described as compassionate. This is a sweet word related to the Hebrew word for the womb. God is as tender-hearted as any mother toward her child could be. Did you ever watch a new mother as she holds her new-born? She is rapt as she counts the toes and fingers to insure that all is correct. She intently watches the child, noting every aspect of the wee bairn. She is alert to every possible sign of trouble.
It never ceases to amaze me how a mother can hear her child. Though a dozen children may be crying simultaneously a mother hears her own child, and her mother heart prompts her to respond with genuine compassion to the cries of her child. That is God! He dotes on His own. He loves them and He responds to their every cry for He is moved with compassion for them.
Again, God is said to be gracious. This is a beautiful description, for it speaks of God's grace. Inherent within this beautiful word is the concept we have come to recognise whenever we speak of His grace, that being the thought that the grace of God is free. It carries the thought of free or undeserved favour. That gracious love is undeserved. We did not merit His love. That concept is evident in the words of God through Moses. The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt… Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession [Deuteronomy 7:7,8; 14:2b]. The concept is equally evident in the words of our Lord in John 15:16a: You did not choose me, but I chose you. That is grace!
God is slow to anger, or patient. The Hebrew is most descriptive at this point. Literally, the text says He is long of nose. When we become angry, our face turns red. Notice that the last part of our face to become red is our nose. When a person's nose is red, they are angry. God's nose doesn't readily turn red! Therefore, God is patient. His nose does not burn.
Finally, God is said to be abounding in love. The Hebrew word which is translated by this phrase is somewhat difficult for us to translate. The KJV translated the word as lovingkindness. The thought is more than that. Perhaps we could capture the idea by speaking of unfailing love, or of faithful love, or of steadfast love, or of dependable love. It is certainly a love which is unconditional and unending. That is God.
David then provides us some practical examples of these attributes of God. God is compassionate, gracious, patient and loving. Here is the evidence of that love toward His own. He will not always accuse. Certainly, when we are honest, He has sufficient cause to accuse us. Eliphaz spoke the truth when he noted that man …is vile and corrupt, [drinking] up evil like water [Job 15:16]! Those words anticipate the words of the apostle in Romans 7:18,21‑23. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out… So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. Here is the important observation of the Psalmist, though we provide God with ample opportunity to accuse us of our wickedness, He will not always accuse, nor will He harbour His anger forever.
We need to be disciplined, and we are promised discipline because God loves us. There is an aspect of His discipline we need to hear: God will not harbour His anger forever! We need but recall those gracious words which were penned by the author of Hebrews in Hebrews 12:5‑11a. You have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Those words are words of encouragement! Our God loves us enough to discipline us; but He will not discipline forever.
The Demands Of Justice [v. 10] ‑ Here is the central thought for us at this Thanksgiving time — God does not treat us as our sins deserve, or repay us according to our iniquities. Before God, we each deserve judgement for our sin. Our rebel nature deserves His judgement. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me [Psalm 51:5] is the confession of the Psalmist, and each of us are compelled by honesty to agree with those words. Remember that sin is failure to live perfectly. Sin is failure to be absolutely holy.
Here is a question for you. Do you sin because you are a sinner? Or are you a sinner because you sin? Of course, you sin because you are a sinner. It is our nature to sin. Sin is reflection of our inherent nature resulting from the fall. This is not an excuse for sin; it is a statement of fact. Justice demands that God judge us for our sin. Were we treated as our sin deserved, we would be condemned to hell. Never could we come into the presence of Holy God; His holiness cannot admit sinful man into His presence. Yet, for His child there remains the astounding truth: He does not treat us as our guilt deserves!
Were this somehow insufficient to cause us to stand in awe of our God, He does not repay us according to our iniquities. We justify our own treatment of others by their treatment of us. If they are kind toward us, we are kind toward them. If they treat us shabbily, we respond in kind. In no small measure, we act toward others as they act toward us, except possibly when we anticipate that we might be able to influence them to treat us in a way which will benefit us. God is not as we are; His treatment of us as His people is unrelated to our behaviour. God does not repay us according to our iniquities. Aren't you glad!
Do you not see, then, why I should admonish each of us to be grateful for what we haven't received? God has not condemned us, yet not one of us lives but did not deserve – indeed, does not deserve – condemnation. God has not repaid us as our iniquities merit. He has instead treated us with compassion, with grace, with patience, with faithful, unending love. That's God!
The Basis For His Mercy Toward Us [vv. 11‑14] ‑ Why should God love us in this way. What is there about Him that would cause Him to demonstrate such kindness toward this rebel race? The Psalmist apparently thought long on this subject, for he lists several reasons each relating to the previously noted attributes of God. The first aspect noted is God's love. The Psalmist stretches his mind as much as possible to comprehend the love of God, only to find he must resort to poetic language. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him. Man has ventured into space, only to discover that he really didn't understand the vastness of the universe.
Each time we think we have discovered the edge of the universe, some refinement in scientific technique demonstrates a new and previously unknown dimension which is greater still. We have each heard of the reports from the interplanetary probes which were sent out from earth. Years after they were launched, they send back a report. They will continue their journeys for years, for decades, before they even exit our solar system. Our solar system is such a tiny part of the whole of the universe we have explored with telescope and radio. And when we have explored a million such solar systems, we will be no nearer leaving the universe then when we initiated our journey. In the same way, when we have explored the love of God for an eternity, we will be no nearer exhausting that love than when we began our exploration. God is love [1 John 4:16] is the revelation we must grasp. If that is the essential aspect of His very being then we shall never exhaust that love. We may draw from His love as often as we need, only to discover that His is an inexhaustible supply of that precious and otherwise rare commodity.
God's love toward those who fear Him must not be construed as approving wickedness or evil. God is also holy. His holy nature demands holiness in those who would approach Him. But how can we who are evil make ourselves holy? How can we ever hope to declare ourselves righteous? We cannot! If we will be holy, God must remove our sin and declare us holy. That is the very thing the Psalmist notes that God does for us: as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. In translating that twelfth verse, I discovered just how poetic David became as he wrote. As distant as the sunrise from the sunset, He has distanced from us our rebellion. It is our rebellion which is in view; and that rebellion has been utterly distanced from us. To the ancient mind, the furthest distance seen with the naked eye was from sunrise to sunset – from horizon to horizon. Though he should travel ever so fast and ever so far, never could an individual arrive at either the sunrise or the sunset. David’s words are not only poetic, but they are accurate. As far as human mind can conceive, rebellion is removed from us.
I must give an aside here. It is vital that you understand this truth. Because God is holy, His people shall be holy. There is an admonition here to holiness, but even more important than our efforts at holiness is the fact that God changes our nature when He saves us, giving us a new nature which actually wants to be holy. We no longer enjoy sin. The reformers were wont to say, Faith alone brings salvation, but the faith that brings salvation is never alone. In this vein Spurgeon is recorded as saying, Although we are sure that men are not saved for the sake of their works, yet we are equally sure that no man will be saved without them. True faith manifests itself in obedience. We are declared holy in Christ [Ephesians 1:4], but it is a holiness which shall be revealed in life [Ephesians 2:10].
Not only God's love and God's holiness are in view when we think of the reasons for His goodness toward us, but God's compassion is in view. As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him, says the Psalmist. We saw this word translated compassion earlier. It is closely related to the Hebrew word which is translated into English as womb. The word carries the idea of tenderness. A father is tender-hearted toward his child. A father would rather die than hear his child cry. A father will gladly bear the punishment of his child if he thinks that is best for the child. A father will do without to insure that his child has. It is the nature of fatherhood. The Psalmist looks at God and discovers that that is the nature of God. God is tender-hearted toward us. God is considerate of our needs. God is compassionate toward us.
There is something further, God knows us. He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust. Permit me to give you some insight into the thinking of the Psalmist, perhaps even some insight into the mind of the Holy Spirit as revealed in this verse. It is not merely that God knows us, it is that He Himself knows us. He knows how we are formed, since it was He Himself who formed us.
Go back to those earliest verses of the Word and read again the words recorded there. God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them …
The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being [Genesis 1:26,27; 2:7].
Of every other part of creation, it is said that God created … that He spoke and what He spoke was. Of man’s creation it is stated that God dirtied His hands. Man is unique in that God's involvement was most intimate. God is omniscient, knowing all things; but in a unique manner, he knows man, for He not only created man, fashioning man with His own hands, but He breathed into [man's] nostrils the breath of life.
There is comfort in this knowledge. God understands me. Regardless of my situation, God knows what I am experiencing. He remembers my weakness and He knows my strength. He understands my temptations and He is aware of my vulnerability. Because this is true, He is able to provide me a rich promise. No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it [1 Corinthians 10:13].
You will perhaps recall the words of the Psalmist in the 139th Psalm.
O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me…
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
[Psalm 139:1,13‑16]
Knowing me intimately, God alone is able to provide comfort when I sorrow. Knowing me intimately, God alone is able to supply me strength when I am weak. Knowing me intimately, God alone is able to supply me hope when I am desperate. Knowing me intimately, God alone is able to supply me hope when I despair. Knowing me intimately, God alone is able to fill me with joy when I am sad. Knowing me intimately, God alone can fill my heart. Why should I not praise Him?
All this being true, what should we do about it. The Psalmist concludes with words of extreme value [vv. 15‑18]. First, in light of the character of God, and in light of the mercy you have already received, remember the brevity of life. We are here such a very short time, and what impact will we truly have on history. Great men have come and gone. In reality, what impact did they have? Having died, we will also be forgotten. In that beautiful language of the Psalmist, [man] flourishes like a flower . . . the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. There is an emphasis on the futility of life throughout the Word. Job noted that life was like a breath or a cloud, [Job 7:6‑9], or as a fleeting shadow [Job 14:1,2]. How quickly life is over! None of us imagine we have sufficient days. This being true, we need to learn a lesson taught by the ancients: Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom [Psalm 90:12].
Remembering the brevity of life, the few days we have to do anything of worth or of merit, let us remember the Lord's love and righteousness toward those who fear Him. Let none of us presume upon the love of God. God is love, but that love emanates from a holy God. We must learn to fear Him. I speak to men and women who need to know to fear God because He is God, but we also need to remember that we fear God for the sake of our children. There is an inheritance to the children of the righteous according to verse seventeen. The righteousness of the Lord is an inheritance of the children of the saints. Were that not so, it would nevertheless be vital that we fear God for our own sakes. In the words of one who lived and acquired wisdom beyond anything we might ever imagine: Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man [Ecclesiastes 12:13]. And that is my plea to you at this season of remembrance and gratitude. Thankful for what we haven't received, we shall indeed be prepared to be thankful for what we have received. Amen.