Ps 103.8-18

Psg: Psa 103.8-18 (http://biblia.com/bible/leb/Ps103.8-18)
Date: 7/9/12

Read

8 Yahweh is compassionate and gracious,

⌊slow to anger⌋c and abundant in loyal love.

9 He does not dispute continually,

nor keep his anger forever.

10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins,

nor repaid us according to our iniquities.

11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,

so his loyal love prevails over those who fear him.

12 As far as east is from west,

so he has removed far from us the guilt of our transgressions.

13 As a father pitiesd his children,

so Yahweh pitiese those who fear him.

14 For he knows our frame.f

He remembers that we are dust.

15 As for man, his days are like the grass.

As the flower of the field, so he blossoms.

16 When the wind passes over it, it is no more,

and its place knows it no longer.

17 But the loyal love of Yahweh

is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,

and his righteousness to their children’s children,

18 to those who keep his covenant

and remember to do his precepts.

Record

(14) For he knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust.

Reflect

• As we consider our guilt, our sin, our responsibilities before God, his justice, his wrath, his hesed, we should also remember this statement. He knows what we’re made of. He knows our incapacities. He knows our parts that just don’t work.
• This does not mean that we are excused.
• This is more than God looking down and saying, “At least you tried hard.”
• This is a reality that God is fully aware of: he demands perfection, we are structurally and systemically incapable of it, and he is fully aware of that.
• This is why Jesus is necessary, and God knows it (of course). Jesus is God’s only avenue because of what he knows to be true about our capacity.
• This informs everything he instructs us to do, everything he expects from us, everything he equips us for, and everything that he expects the Holy Spirit to empower.
• Our sins do not surprise him or shock him. He knows what we’re made of.
• cf. Jn 2:24 But Jesus himself did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people,i 25 and because he did not⌊need⌋j anyone ⌊to testify⌋k about man, for he himself knew what was in man.*
• His love for us is all the more amazing.

Respond

• Thank you for your “despite all that” love.
• Teach me to see myself as you see me, and then to rely on the Holy Spirit even more.