Gracious and Compassionate

DEVOTION

PSALMS

GRACIOUS AND COMPASSIONATE

Ps 145:8-16

8 The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. 9 The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made. 10 All you have made will praise you, O LORD; your saints will extol you. 11 They will tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, 12 so that all men may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. 13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made. 14 The LORD upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. 15 The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. 16 You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

NIV

We first must recognize the Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. But that is not just to those who call themselves believers. The Lord is good to all; he is compassionate on all he has made. That includes those who we would call, according to the definition of scripture, the wicked, the unsaved, those who have not accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. God is still compassionate on them. How is his compassion shown to them as well as to us? John 3:16 tells the whole of that story. Just because someone is outside the kingdom of God, who is still a slave to sin, and at present is an object of wrath, does not mean God hates them and wants them to be punished. No, he loves them and has shown his compassion on them in the form of sending Jesus to die for their sin, just as he did for us. The difference is we have heard the voice of the Spirit as he convicted us of our sin, and we repented and accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. They have yet to do this, but it is available to them through the graciousness and compassion of God. He is good to them as he is to us. Now will they praise him as we do? We cannot know how that will be except on the last day. However, what we can make sure is that we extol the Lord. We should and we will tell of the glory of his kingdom and we should and we will tell of his might. We cannot just live among the heathen, the unsaved and keep our voice silenced. We have to speak up for God. They have to know of his graciousness and compassion he has for them. If we do not speak up, how will they know? After all his is the only kingdom that is everlasting. All other kingdoms will cease to exist, but his will never cease for it is everlasting, eternal. Why would people choose a non-everlasting kingdom? Are they simply captives in some perishing kingdom? Jesus sets the captives free, so then everyone can be a citizen of the Kingdom of God. This is free to all he has made, all of mankind can enter in, only if they make that choice. Once that choice is made, as we did, then we can be assured the Lord will uphold them as he does us, even when we fall, and he lifts us up as we bow down to him. This is the truth of seeing how he opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. We have to humble ourselves before him. He provides, he sustains, and he satisfies the desires of every living thing. It is not that he satisfies the desires of the wicked,  but in a sense he does, as Jesus is the ultimate one who satisfies. He is there to do just that for those who bow down and humble themselves before him. We praise the Lord because he is gracious and compassionate.