Episode Transcript
Welcome Bonnie McClure to the Wake-Up Call for these next two weeks with a Wake-Up Call mini-series on Psalm 103. Bonnie is from Bremen, Georgia. She is married to Matthew, and mother of two sons ten and eight, and a dog named Kudzu and a cat named Rose. She’s a high school bookkeeper by day and a writer by calling. She writes regularly at the Pointed Arrow.
PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Abba, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Abba, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Psalm 103 (NLT)
Let all that I am praise the LORD;
with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
Let all that I am praise the LORD;
may I never forget the good things he does for me.
He forgives all my sins
and heals all my diseases.
He redeems me from death
and crowns me with love and tender mercies.
He fills my life with good things.
My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!
The LORD gives righteousness
and justice to all who are treated unfairly.
He revealed his character to Moses
and his deeds to the people of Israel.
The LORD is compassionate and merciful,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
He does not punish us for all our sins;
he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west.
The LORD is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
For he knows how weak we are;
he remembers we are only dust.
Our days on earth are like grass;
like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
The wind blows, and we are gone—
as though we had never been here.
But the love of the LORD remains forever
with those who fear him.
His salvation extends to the children’s children
of those who are faithful to his covenant,
of those who obey his commandments!
The LORD has made the heavens his throne;
from there he rules over everything.
Praise the LORD, you angels,
you mighty ones who carry out his plans,
listening for each of his commands.
Yes, praise the LORD, you armies of angels
who serve him and do his will!
Praise the LORD, everything he has created,
everything in all his kingdom.
Let all that I am praise the LORD.
CONSIDER THIS
A. W. Tozer wrote, “What comes into our minds when we think of God is the most important thing about us.”
God is God; no Christian would debate this fact. Who we believe God to be often reveals more about us than about God. Many things influence us as we build our systems of belief around God, from our early childhood experiences, our relationships within church communities (or lack thereof), our circumstances or the circumstances of those we love, and the list goes on and on.
Verse 7 of Psalm 103 echoes an important, early introduction God made of himself to Moses. In Exodus 34, the Lord comes down to Moses in a cloud, and verse 5 actually says he stood there with him. Then in verse 6 he promptly announces himself using these words:
“Yahweh! The LORD!
The God of compassion and mercy!
I am slow to anger
and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.”
He goes on, but I want to pause here.
Of all the words in the entire history of the universe God could have chosen to introduce himself, he chose: compassion and mercy.
Compassion and mercy! Okay? I might’ve thought of mighty, powerful, exalted, glorious. The words God chose were compassion and mercy. Almost as if to say, “Whenever you think of me, what I’ve done, what I’m doing, whether or not you can trust my plan, my timing, my ruling, my will, my judgment, my design, my purposes, what I give, what I take, what I leave, what I create, what you face, what you lack, what you miss, what you wrestle with . . . Remember it all, first and foremost, within the context of this truth: that I am a God of compassion and mercy.”
This isn’t just sweet talk. We see evidence of the Lord’s compassion and mercy all throughout Scripture, all throughout history, and all throughout our faith lives. Take, for just one example, the flagship scripture of the gospel—John 3:16 (NIV): “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Not, for God was so frustrated with the world . . .
Not, for God was so disappointed in the world . . .
Not, for God was so angry with the world . . .
For God so loved the world.
And I like to personalize this verse, placing my name directly in the text. I invite you to do the same, out loud, right now.
“For God so loved [your name] that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
If we can bring ourselves to accept this truth, it turns our world on its head. But accepting this is often difficult for us. It comes more naturally to us to believe in a God that might be punitive, rigid, harsh, and unyielding because that is more often how we treat one another; it is more often how we treat ourselves.
Compassion, for us, is not something that naturally springs forth. Instead, it is something that is cultivated in us, over time, as we learn to expand our perspectives, surrender our scarcity fears, and soften our hearts to those who need our love (which by the way—is everyone).
It is the spirit of Christ living in us, of course, that first initiates any and all of these movements toward compassion. As he lives within us, our capacity grows greater and greater to understand, as Paul prayed, just “how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is” (Eph. 3:18 NLT).
THE PRAYER
Lord, we thank you for your compassion and mercy, that your anger is slow to erupt and your love is unfailing. We rest in knowing that because this is your nature, your love for us springs forth effortlessly, even when our circumstances look difficult and dark, you always see through to our highest purpose, the one you designed for us, and though we may be shaped by our experiences, our ultimate formation is guided by your hand and it is your love that ever propels us toward your light. Amen.
