The LORD Is Merciful and Gracious

From the Pastor: Dr. M. J. Seymour, Sr.

“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.” (Ps. 103:10-12)

Just previously in verse eight we read: “The LORD is merciful and gracious, …” The Hebrew word of the text that is translated “merciful” is a particular word that is always used in reference to God; it is never used of man. It reveals the love, kindness, compassion, pity, and mercy that God directs towards man. Five times it is translated as “full of compassion,” as in Psalm 78:38 – “But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: …” Also, in all but three verses the Hebrew word is accompanied by the word “gracious.” Thus, in each of the verses we come to understand that God is divinely merciful and gracious towards His own, not because they merit it, but on the contrary, it is because they only and justly deserve His divine wrath.

If God “dealt” with His own according to what they merit, all of us would find our portion in the abyss of the torments of hell. Our reward would be where the fire is never quenched and the worm dieth not. It is because the Father is merciful and gracious that we are not now engulfed with eternal damnation. None have merited such royal and holy benevolence from His Majesty on high! So great is the mercy and grace of God toward them that fear him that the minds of men cannot even begin to fathom the extent of what the Eternal God and Creator has so blessedly done.

To remove our vile putrefying sins out of us and to separate them from us as far as the east is from the west must of necessity require a holy, merciful LORD whose heart for His elect is full and flooding over with unspeakable and indefinable heavenly compassion. It is utterly impossible for the east and the west to ever meet, for the east must always be east and the west must always be west and never shall they come face to face, and neither shall God’s elect come face to face with their sins, because the blood of the Lamb guards and fills the expanse between us. O what a glorious thing indeed it is to be a recipient of God’s bestowment of mercy and grace.