Everlasting Mercy
by Liz Griffin
Psalm 103 repeatedly tells us that God is good, compassionate and loving. He forgives all our iniquities and heals all our diseases (verse 3). He redeems our life from destruction and crowns us with loving kindness and tender mercies (verse 4). He satisfies our mouth with good things so that our youth is renewed like the eagle’s (verse 5).
This last verse once taught me how to enjoy a good, well-balanced diet, instead of depriving myself of certain kinds of food. My face had suddenly become covered with ugly spots. A friend in a prayer meeting received a word from God for me. It was simply “chemical imbalance”. I did some research about food that was good for our skin and found I wasn’t eating those things, because I had become too obsessed with slimming. Then I read Psalm 103 (in the New King James Version) and knew God was speaking to me from verse 5. I found it amazing that God was interested in my minor health problem. Once I allowed myself to eat good things again my skin got healed.
But when I read this Psalm recently I saw how it was all about our relationship with God. It says three times that the LORD will have mercy on those who ‘fear’ Him. He won’t punish us as our sins deserve if we ‘fear’ Him. When David wrote this Psalm the way to have a relationship with God was by obeying the Commandments and trusting in God’s Covenant with His special people.
Through Jesus as Saviour we come into a relationship with God, but that doesn’t mean we should lose the rightful ‘fear’ of God that David talked about. Nor does it mean we shouldn’t keep God’s covenant or remember to obey His commandments.
I believe that when David said ‘bless the LORD’ it was a way of saying thank You to God. We too should be full of thanks and remember all our benefits that come from Him. We can then expect God’s mercy and righteousness to bless us and our descendants.
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, I’m so grateful for Your mercy and loving kindness. I don’t want to be presumptuous and have a casual attitude towards Your grace. Help me to have a rightful fear of You and keep Your Commandments. Like David I want to bless Your holy name with all that is within me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Liz Griffin lived for 20 years as an expatriate in South Africa, Bahrain and Japan, as her husband Paul worked for an international oil company. Paul and Liz became involved with Ellel Ministries in 1991 as part of the ministry team and joined the full-time team at Ellel Grange in 1995. Paul and Liz teach and minister to those seeking healing in their lives and together have written two books, 'Anger - How Do You Handle It' and 'Hope and Healing For The Abused'.
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