Ep. 121. Psalm 145 | Great is the Lord
EPISODE 121
GREAT IS THE LORD: PSALM 145
"The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." If you're keeping track of these references back to Exodus 34, make a note of it here. I love how often this name of God shows up in the Old Testament. No, it isn't a hundred times, but it is certainly enough to be significant. It might do us well to memorize this short statement as a way for us to think about and talk about God. "What is God like? Great question. Well, he is gracious and very merciful. He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." From this simple statement, we could leap into the depths of the gospel message of salvation, judgment, and redeeming love.
"The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works." This is a difficult thing for us to consider sometimes. We wonder if the work of God is genuinely kind and good. "What about the flood?" someone might ask. We have to come to the place where we understand that it is in the nature of God to be good. He only does what is good and right. We need to adjust our view of what is good to match his view and not seek to conform him to our perspective. Revelation 18 deals with the destruction of spiritual Babylon, and chapter 19 immediately turns to the saints in heaven rejoicing over God's righteous victory. What God does is good. We must also remember we live in a sinful, fallen world where literally millions of wicked things happen every single day. But because God is good, he will deal with it. Remember, he is "slow to anger," but his anger against the wicked is coming.
"The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works." What might our lives look like if we believed these three statements about our Great Lord and lived according to them? Our God is gracious, merciful, faithful, kind, righteous, and abounding in steadfast love. He is slow to anger. If we were fully convinced in our own minds of these things, they would certainly change how we served him and spoke about him.
ADDITIONAL READING: Exodus 34:6-7; Psalm 78; Exodus 16; Philippians 3:9; Psalm 119:68
