** He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins;
nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. ** Psalm 103:9-12
Just in case we were not clear on the importance of the double dose of Mercy that God poured out and continues to pour out on us everyday, here in the next 4 verses of Psalm 103 He gives us some more detail in what it means for Him to be merciful/plenteous in mercy.
In verse 9 we see the word chide. To chide with someone is to strive, wrestle, be in opposition to, rebuke, quarrel, be at odds with, and to cast blame. Before we knew the Lord we were in opposition to Him. Our life was in direct contrast to what He hoped for us. We were to blame for all of the trouble in our own lives, right?And we seemed to always be at odds with God’s Holiness. God’s will. God’s goodness.
Now that we have accepted His invitation to be a part of His family, His chiding or wrestling with us has become softer, gentler, more patient. I would like to say there is no chiding, but we all know that we do not always remember to live the way the Lord wants us to. Most of the big fights with God have changed into gentle rebukes that we need from time to time, reminding us to get back on track. And our chiding with Him, decreases with time as we accept His Sovereignty and His transforming Hand.
** He hath not dealt with us after our sins ** How many can join me in saying AMEN!? Shouldn’t we have more trouble, more pain, more suffering today because of everything that happened in our lives before we knelt at the Cross?
** For as heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy….The distance between Heaven and Earth is immeasurable. The Heaven where the Lord lives is in another dimension, it is beyond our ability to understand just how far away it is. It is far enough away so that our sin cannot damage it. If we think in terms of heaven as outer space as we know it, where is Heaven exactly? Next to the moon? Next to Jupiter? Past Pluto? Is it even in our galaxy? We don’t know where it is, we can’t find it ourselves. Which means our sin is lost somewhere out in the universe, never to be found again. That is how great, long, and immense God’s mercy is towards us.
** As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions ** I heard a preacher say once that it is a good thing that the Lord didn’t say ‘as far as the north is from the south’. That would mean that we could head north, following 0 longitude and keep going north…until we reach the North Pole and then we would have to turn south. We would find south… we would find our sin. There is a place that is considered the most North that we could go and a place that is the most South. But the Lord says east from west….if we go East in an airplane from New York towards Europe….keep going East…to China…then still East across the Pacific…to California…East to New York again….We never find West. We never have to change direction. West is not found. We just keep going East. Forever….
So is our sin. It is never to be found. It is erased. It is blotted out. We can’t find it. God doesn’t remember it.
** As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions **
Forget not all His benefits.