PSALM 103:8
The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plentiful in mercy.
James 5:11
See how blessed we consider those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen the outcome from the Lord. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
Compassion: according to the Bible, means full of mercy. It is an accusative term applied to God's love, which He extends to us. Not accusatory, but accusative, which is, according to the dictionary: relating to or denoting a case of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives that expresses the object of an action or the goal of motion. And what is the object of God's action or goal of motion: GOD IS LOVE (1 John 4:15-17). In His great love, He sent us His only begotten Son by wrapping His WORD in flesh and having It go through life like any other person....almost. For Christ is sinless, the only Person who never sinned against GOD. How could He? He was, and is GOD. An amazing feat which only GOD could accomplish!
Here, both David and James write that God is reminding us that He shows us mercy, great mercy, and grace. The gods in the areas in which David and James lived were not. The gods being worshiped in those days are still being worshiped today. Yet, GOD is still extending His mercy towards us.
Our God is slow to anger (longsuffering, which is more than just being patient). It's been nearly 2,000 years, since Christ ascended into heaven to be with His Father. That's more than patient; that length of time is, indeed, longsuffering. He has put up with people ignoring Him, mocking Him, hating Him, betraying Him, loving, then leaving Him. And, yet, GOD extends His mercy out into all the world.
Though every heart will not receive His Truth by their own choice, God being love, flows out into all the world like a winding stream, touching every person even if they refuse to be loved by GOD. Please don't be that person. GOD loves you and wants only the best for you. How do we know that? John 3:16,17 "For GOD so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For GOD sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."
Again, in 1 John 4:15-17 - If anyone confesses that Jesus is The Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. GOD IS LOVE; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him. In this way, love has been perfected among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment; for in this world we are just like Him.
The 'we' James is referring to is the believers, the ones who have confessed that Jesus Christ is The Son of God. Paul wrote in Romans 10:9, 10 "That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved."
This is the mercy which GOD extends to us all. This great and wonderful mercy is mine. Is it yours, too?
THE CROSS - Anne Wilson & Chris Tomlin
