Is God really merciful?

MikeinSeattle said:

I am just now beginning to realize that for the past few years I have become very much overly focused on the judging and punitive nature of God and how He always causes us to reap what we sow. Just as He punished David for his sin with Bathsheba or Moses for striking the rock and so on.

But I have realized that I have become overly focused on this aspect of God to the point that I have become literally terrified of making even the smallest mistake.

Right now I am focusing on psalm 103 and how that God says He does not deal with us according to our sins but instead shows us compassion as a father with his child.

Are there other scriptures that clearly teach that God is merciful in how he deals with us for our mistakes? They are not immediately coming to my mind. I know that He forgives our sins in Christ because of His blood shed for us on the cross and because of this we can go to heaven when we die. But I am talking about Gods punishment in this life for our sin. Obviously if we sin here in this world that sin has consequences. But does God show us mercy in those consequences? Are there any other scriptures besides those in psalm 103 that say that He shows us some mercy in this life when we sin?

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You are in the Body of Christ, and Christ has already taken all judgement for sin in his Body, thru the cross.

Now, when God sees you, he sees the Body of his dearly beloved Son, so there is no punishment from God for sins from now on.

That does not mean there is no natural consequences in for sins though. If you commit adultery, you may end up in a divorce etc.

I can personally attest to this. He so is and is so worth it. I should be dead literally. He gives me mercy and warns me not to do stupid stuff and luckily i heed some warnings.

Whatever happens in our lives, shouldn't we ask God, "What is the lesson in this? Can I learn something from this that will be helpful to others?"

And we can always, always think of people who endured worse situations. I was so miserable that I once asked God to let me die before the sunrise. He didn't. I'm still trying to navigate the course, and I always need God's leading on this rough sea (as did others before me).

Isaiah 43:2
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

What does that mean? Here are some commentaries:

Ellicott's Commentary
(2) When thou passest through the waters . . .—The two contrasted forms of elemental perils are used, as elsewhere, proverbially for all forms of danger (Psalm 66:12).

Matthew Henry
43:1-7 God's favour and good-will to his people speak abundant comfort to all believers. The new creature, wherever it is, is of God's forming. All who are redeemed with the blood of his Son, he has set apart for himself. Those that have God for them need not fear who or what can be against them. What are Egypt and Ethiopia, all their lives and treasures, compared with the blood of Christ? True believers are precious in God's sight, his delight is in them, above any people. Though they went as through fire and water, yet, while they had God with them, they need fear no evil; they should be born up, and brought out. The faithful are encouraged. They were to be assembled from every quarter. And with this pleasing object in view, the prophet again dissuades from anxious fears.

Pulpit Commentary
Verse 2. - Through the waters... through the rivers; i.e. through troubles of any kind (comp. Psalm 66:12, "We went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place"). There were, perhaps, special troubles to be endured connected with the final Babylonian struggle. There were certainly others connected with the tedious and dangerous journey from Babylonia to Palestine (Ezra 8:22, 31). There were others, again, after the Holy Land was reached, arising out of the jealousy and ill will of neighbouring nations (Ezra 4. and 5; Nehemiah 4-6.). Neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. The literal fulfilment in the persons of the "three children" (Daniel 3:27) will be obvious to every reader. But the prophecy has, no doubt, a far wider scope.

God bless you and comfort you and give you strength for the journey!

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9

"As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us."

"No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. 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 endure it." 1 Corinthians 10:13

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence.” Ephesians 1:7-8

But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 1 Timothy 1:16

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God." Luke 18:13-14

"For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you." Psalm 86:5
"Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven." Matthew 18:21-22

“You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you.” Psalm 86:5

“Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.” Psalm 32:1

“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Hebrews 8:12

“Then he adds: Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” Hebrews 10:17

"The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him." Daniel 9:9

“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more ..." Isaiah 43:25

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!" 1 Chronicles 16:34

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." 1 Peter 1:3

For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them. Deuteronomy 4:31

"Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations." Deuteronomy 7:9

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us." Ephesians 2:4

"The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness." Exodus 34:6

"Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him." Isaiah 30:18

"Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, “Return, faithless Israel,” declares the Lord. “I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the Lord;” “I will not be angry forever.” Jeremiah 3:12

"And rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster." Joel 2:13

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end." Lamentations 3:22

"Because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high." Luke 1:78

"They shall be mine,” says the Lord of hosts, “in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him." Malachi 3:17

"Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." Matthew 9:13

"Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love." Micah 7:18

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!" Psalm 107:1

"O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption." Psalm 130:7

"To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions." Psalm 51:1

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness." - Lamentations 3:22-23

Hi @MikeinSeattle

It's good you are in the Psalms. That's the book you want to dive in as it's pretty much a manual for the Christian's walk.

I recommend meditating on Psalm 32, 51, 91 & 139 as a start.

Peace.

MikeinSeattle said:

I am just now beginning to realize that for the past few years I have become very much overly focused on the judging and punitive nature of God and how He always causes us to reap what we sow. Just as He punished David for his sin with Bathsheba or Moses for striking the rock and so on.

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According to the Law of Moses, David should have gotten the death penalty for adultery.

What I see is that God had His overall purpose; so He kept David alive.

Hebrews 12:4-14 says every child of God is guaranteed how our Father is able to correct us. So, I would not be concerned only about if I am forgiven, but I would actively seek our Father for real correction.

And make sure our forgiving is up-to-date. Make sure we ourselves are being merciful.

MikeinSeattle said:

I am just now beginning to realize that for the past few years I have become very much overly focused on the judging and punitive nature of God and how He always causes us to reap what we sow. Just as He punished David for his sin with Bathsheba or Moses for striking the rock and so on. But I have realized that I have become overly focused on this aspect of God to the point that I have become literally terrified of making even the smallest mistake.

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David was forgiven and his son from Bathsheba, Solomon, became king of Israel. Moses was also forgiven, his body was assumed to heaven and he conversed with the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration.

God is loving and merciful. Excessive zeal for justice always becomes satanic.

MikeinSeattle said:

I am just now beginning to realize that for the past few years I have become very much overly focused on the judging and punitive nature of God and how He always causes us to reap what we sow. Just as He punished David for his sin with Bathsheba or Moses for striking the rock and so on.

But I have realized that I have become overly focused on this aspect of God to the point that I have become literally terrified of making even the smallest mistake.

Right now I am focusing on psalm 103 and how that God says He does not deal with us according to our sins but instead shows us compassion as a father with his child.

Are there other scriptures that clearly teach that God is merciful in how he deals with us for our mistakes? They are not immediately coming to my mind. I know that He forgives our sins in Christ because of His blood shed for us on the cross and because of this we can go to heaven when we die. But I am talking about Gods punishment in this life for our sin. Obviously if we sin here in this world that sin has consequences. But does God show us mercy in those consequences? Are there any other scriptures besides those in psalm 103 that say that He shows us some mercy in this life when we sin?

Click to expand...

That was God hanging on the cross in human flesh to die for our sins, to prove a love so wide and deep and vast we can only begin, and even then only with the help of grace, to fathom it. God opposes and hates sin/evil but loves all of His creation, loves us, lavishly, immensely. He’s not angry, wrathful, vengeful-or distant and aloof in His superiority -but is actually kind, gentle, humble of heart; enmity came from man, not Him.

And the cross is the ultimate testimony to the fact that He will not force us to be saved; He overcomes evil with love and the cross draws us to that love. But we may not love Him in return, we may not choose and embrace that love for ourselves. And at the end of the day He’ll allow us to go our way, to choose to live without the love, apart from Him, that, alone, could make life worth living eternally.

.

MikeinSeattle said:

I am just now beginning to realize that for the past few years I have become very much overly focused on the judging and punitive nature of God and how He always causes us to reap what we sow. Just as He punished David for his sin with Bathsheba or Moses for striking the rock and so on.

But I have realized that I have become overly focused on this aspect of God to the point that I have become literally terrified of making even the smallest mistake.

Right now I am focusing on psalm 103 and how that God says He does not deal with us according to our sins but instead shows us compassion as a father with his child.

Are there other scriptures that clearly teach that God is merciful in how he deals with us for our mistakes? They are not immediately coming to my mind. I know that He forgives our sins in Christ because of His blood shed for us on the cross and because of this we can go to heaven when we die. But I am talking about Gods punishment in this life for our sin. Obviously if we sin here in this world that sin has consequences. But does God show us mercy in those consequences? Are there any other scriptures besides those in psalm 103 that say that He shows us some mercy in this life when we sin?

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I think at this point it's not a matter of finding a few select passages of Scripture; it's a matter of actually making a brand new approach to the Bible, and in examining your own theological positions.

The Bible is bursting with the mercy of God, it's what Christianity is all about.

Christianity is not about us having the right set of religious beliefs (or performing the right set of actions) in order that we might escape "the bad place" and then go to "the good place".

Crux probat omnia, "the cross measures all". This is a saying in Lutheranism, the cross probes, it searches, it measures all. Everything is to be seen in, through, and by the cross of Jesus.

Because the cross changed everything. The cross changes everything.

The cross is not the starting point of the Christian journey. The cross is the Christian journey.

When we turn our gaze away from the cross, we lose sight of mercy. We lose sight of mercy because we begin looking everywhere to find ways to be religious--by God's Law, by our own personal efforts, by our own self-determined set of morality codes whatever they might be. We seek to be religious, bu it is without true religion, which is Jesus Christ and His Gospel. Religiousness, without true religion, is just moral busywork and hopelessness.

But the Law can't benefit us. The Law can accomplish one thing and one thing only: it can kill us. By the Law we find ourselves condemned as unjust sinners who are actively hostile toward God and our neighbor. We don't love God. We don't love our neighbor.

And, by the Law, we will never be righteous. It's not a matter of trying hard enough. There is no enough.

That is why men, beholding God in the Law, without faith in Christ, behold God's wrath. Because they do not see the loving Abba Father who makes Himself known through His Incarnate Son; they only see the terrible Thundering and Fire that terrified the whole nation of Israel at the base of the mount; our God is a consuming fire.

Which is why Jesus doesn't tell His followers to go find the Father in their works, or to go find the Father up in heaven, or at the Temple, or in the Divine Law given to Moses. He says, "If you have seen Me you have seen the Father" and "If you had known me you would know the Father also" and "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father except by Me."

Jesus, Jesus is how we meet the Father. Because Jesus, God's own Son, His Eternal Word, has become flesh of the Virgin. And it is here, not in power, but in weakness; not in glory, but in the suffering and the cross of Jesus Christ that God is known.

To look upon God through our own works and efforts, our own failures, faults, abilities, strengths, reason, etc is to always look upon God as though He is covered with a thick dark veil hiding His face.

Crux probat omnia, "the cross measures all".



-CryptoLutheran

Be still and know that I am God

God's discipline is not punitive, in fact it is part of His merciful nature that He disciplines those He loves. To teach us His ways, and to lead us away from sin is among the greatest acts of mercy. Mercy isn't about not allowing for consequences, especially since every consequence that comes our way is for our benefit.

MikeinSeattle said:

I am just now beginning to realize that for the past few years I have become very much overly focused on the judging and punitive nature of God and how He always causes us to reap what we sow. Just as He punished David for his sin with Bathsheba or Moses for striking the rock and so on.

But I have realized that I have become overly focused on this aspect of God to the point that I have become literally terrified of making even the smallest mistake.

Right now I am focusing on psalm 103 and how that God says He does not deal with us according to our sins but instead shows us compassion as a father with his child.

Are there other scriptures that clearly teach that God is merciful in how he deals with us for our mistakes? They are not immediately coming to my mind. I know that He forgives our sins in Christ because of His blood shed for us on the cross and because of this we can go to heaven when we die. But I am talking about Gods punishment in this life for our sin. Obviously if we sin here in this world that sin has consequences. But does God show us mercy in those consequences? Are there any other scriptures besides those in psalm 103 that say that He shows us some mercy in this life when we sin?

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Now Paul said in (Rom. 3:23-25) (v.23) For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. (v.24) Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: (v.25) Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God. So the bible tells you to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." (Acts 2 :36-38). And by doing so you come up under his precious blood and then you are saved from your sins that are past, not present or future sins but for sins that are past. We were all locked under death by Adam’s sin, even the second death. But when Jesus became (he was God in the beginning) man and died for the sins of the world, he gave us access back to the tree of life (himself) which Adam had caused us to lose. That’s what grace is, our free gift our access back to the tree of life but that’s another lesson for another time. So by coming under the blood of Jesus you are saved from your past sins. And if you are saved now, it is on a day to day basis. Because for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 23:3), and if you continue to live you will sin again. It is the willful sinning that you need to put in check. For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. (Hebrew 10: 26, 27)

Now, Paul says in Romans 9: 15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. But let's also take a look at Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4: 1Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; 2 but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

MikeinSeattle said:

I know that there is discipline "in which all have participated" as Hebrews talks about. And this discipline is meant for testing and the building of our character. But I feel like there is also punishment for sin which we experience in this life. Was David not punished for his sin by all the tragedy which overtook him thereafter just as God said would happen? And Moses for his sin was also told that he could not enter Canaan?

I often have greatly struggled with fear of this punishment. Fear of being killed for my sin specifically. Or rather fear of the grace that upholds me being taken away and that leading to my death.

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If God kills you for sin, it is not a punitive action but one of mercy. As David says "happy is the one who is not treated according to his sin," which is everyone since the cross is God's statement on sin. Being taken because of sin is not condemnation, but preventing you from falling into further sins. David's son was taken as God declared, and it was a consequence of David's sin but I do not believe that it was done with the intent of making David suffer and David was aware of God's heart in it which is why he pleaded and mourned, and when it was certain the child would die, he dressed and returned to normal. Moses as well in not being allowed to lead the Israelites into the promised land was being relieved of a rough duty so that relief could be given in Joshua and Caleb.

God is not capricious or cruel, sometimes it can be hard to see the mercy but His character is revealed throughout Scripture as a loving Father and what loving father doesn't find themselves pained when they must discipline their child, yet discplines them because they know it is necessary?