Psalm 86:15

Verse of the Day Devotion:  Psalm 86:15  

“But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” – Psalm 86:15 

This psalm addresses a situation where David was suffering because of ruthless and evil men.  “O God, insolent men have risen up against me; a band of ruthless men seeks my life, and they do not set you before them.” Psalm 86:14.  David is referring to a band of men who do not honor God, in fact they consider themselves to be above or more important than God, if they believe in Him at all.  They are terribly violent ones who breathe out nothing but cruelty and will slaughter as many as they have to. 

However, David is not alone.  He cries out to God for encouragement.  “But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant, and save the son of your maidservant. Show me a sign of your favor, that those who hate me may see and be put to shame because you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me.” Psalm 86:15-17.  In our focus verse, He declares God is merciful and compassionate and tender hearted, as a parent is to his children being rich and plenteous in His mercy.  He also declares He is slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness. 

After this, David calls out to God for help.  “Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant and save the son of your maidservant.”  Psalm 86:16.  In these verses he is asking God to help him through all these troubles.  Help to be saved from these evil people who have caused him much trouble.  He asks God to be merciful and gracious to him and to give him the strength necessary to make it through these trying times.  And then he asks for a sign from God.  “Show me a sign of your favor, that those who hate me may see and be put to shame because you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me.”  Psalm 86:17.  The sign was to bring shame on those who hate him because you have helped and comforted him.  This would probably cause them to doubt their ways and their ability to hurt David.  He desired that God would show them that they can do nothing harmful to him when God is involved.

So, I want to ask the following question.  When you find yourself in difficult situations, what do you do?  Do you spend time mourning and crying?  Do you cry out to God for help, or do you just cry out?  God does not change and neither do His mercies.  “So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 6:17-20.  When you find yourself in a situation where you do not see any good coming from it, go to God.  There is nothing impossible for Him and there nothing He does not foresee.  Trust Him in every way, for in Him we will be comforted and have victory.  “Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:31-33.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries. 

Psalm 103:8

Verse of the Day Devotion: Psalm 103:8

“The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.” – Psalm 103:8.   

This is a psalm of David where he is praising the Lord for His many mercies.  In this particular psalm, David is encouraging himself by using the technique of speaking to himself.  He starts by telling himself to bless God for all the blessings God has bestowed on him.  “Bless the LORD, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits;” Psalm 108:1-2. He then proceeds to list several of these blessings. “Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.” Psalm 103:3-5.

In the next verse, he speaks of how He has compassion on those oppressed.  “The LORD performs righteous deeds And judgments for all who are oppressed.” Psalm 103:6.  God is on the side of the oppressed, He has their true interests at heart.  The ‘oppressed’ refers to those harmed by unjust judgements, in slavery or wronged by the pride and power of the wicked. 

And then we come to our focus verse.  “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.” Psalm 103:8.  These words were originally spoken by God Himself to Moses stating who He is, after Moses chiseled out two more stone tablets to put the ten commandments on.  “Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” Exodus 34:6-7. 

This is a beautiful picture of the God we serve.  In looking at our verse of the day, we see the following.  First, the Lord is compassionate and gracious.  He is a loving God who has shown this compassion to us by providing salvation through the death, burial and resurrection of His only begotten Son.  He knows we are not perfect; however, He did not neglect us and leave us on our own but did what was necessary to provide the means by which our sins can be forgiven.  And He is slow to anger.  David also declared this of God in a prior psalm.  “But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.” Psalm 86:15.  This speaks of one who is not quick to take vengeance but puts up with us patiently. 

I want to encourage us all to spend time looking at who our God truly is.  That He loves us and did all that was necessary to provide our salvation and eventual eternal life with Him.  He will not leave us or forsake us.  He is compassionate and gracious toward us.  Going forward, “He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever.  He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:9-12.  He has each one of our bests at heart.  And because of all this, we should remember how much He cares for us, and is always watching over us.  Therefore, as King David declared, we should as well. “Bless the LORD, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name.” 

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.