The Lord, “crowns you with love and compassion” (Psalm 103:4)
Sometimes I get so focused on what I am supposed to be and do, that my failings cause me to slip back into unhealthy and untrue views of how God sees me. Psalm 103 has been a healthy corrective for me. Here is a psalm that reminds us that God sees us through a loving and compassionate lense. It is so good for me to be reminded of His patient kindness to us!
“Love” in this verse is the kind of love that is “centered in the will, the love of commitment, unchanging” and the compassion is “the love of the heart, surging and emotional”. What a complete picture of His utterly patient, kind, loving view of us. David says that the Lord “crowns” us with this love and compassion. This word “crowns” refers to something being completely surrounded so as not to allow a person to pass out of an area.
Hear that! We can’t get out of God’s compassionate, loving view of us! As I was reading this recently, I was prayerfully asking what this compassion meant, and it didn’t take long for God to answer that because David defines His compassion in the latter part of this psalm.
8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
He knows us. He understands how fragile we are. He understands how broken we are. He understands how our pasts have contributed to who we are today. I have been so blessed by this reminder recently. As I fail again and again, I must rest assured that He maintains His compassionate view of me.
This is exactly what Jesus came to convince us of ….Hebrews 4:14-16, “for we do not have a High Priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses,” “so let us approach God’s throne of grace with confidence.”
Today, remind yourself again, and rest assured that God understands, He is compassionate, and He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve. Praise God and draw near to Him in confidence!
– Deryk Pritchard, Preacher
