Read: Psalm 103:1-10; Matthew 18:21-35
He does not deal with us according to our sins,nor repay us according to our iniquities. (Ps. 103:10)
What would it be like if God repaid us according to our iniquities? What if he dealt with us as our sins deserve? Think about that for a moment. If God treated us with nothing but strict justice, we all know where that would lead. None of us would stand a chance.
Do you remember the story of the prodigal son (see Luke 15)? He was the young man who insolently and insultingly demanded that his father give him his inheritance, which he immediately went out and squandered. Then one day, as he sat miserably in a pigsty, he “came to himself” and decided he would try going home again. He had a carefully rehearsed speech ready: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you . . .” (Luke 15:18-19). But before he could even get it all out his father ran to him, embraced him, and called for a celebration.
Aren’t you grateful that the Lord doesn’t deal with us as we deserve? But if that’s the truth, literally the gospel truth, then why are we so dead set on making sure other sinners get what they deserve? Why are we so often like the unmerciful servant in Jesus’s story, where it’s “grace for me but law for thee”? I think it’s because we tend to forget just how great the debt was that we owed to God, and how correspondingly deep his mercy toward us is. If we remembered that, we wouldn’t try to count how many times we have to forgive our brothers and sisters.
As you pray, thank God for his mercy to you.
David Bast is a writer and pastor who served for 23 years as the President and Broadcast Minister for Words of Hope. In his more than 40 years of devotional writing and preaching, he has been encouraging believers around the world to be shaped by God and his Word.
Prior to his ministry and work at Words of Hope, Dave served as a pastor for 18 years in congregations in the Reformed Church in America. A graduate of Hope College and Western Theological Seminary, he is the author of nine devotional books and Bible studies, including God of My Days,Why Doesn't God Act More Like God,Christ in the Psalms, andA Gospel for the World.
Dave and his wife, Betty Jo, have four children and eight grandchildren. Dave enjoys reading, growing tomatoes, and avidly follows the Detroit Tigers.
