New Morning Mercies #85

We are often quick to anger and slow to love, but God is not like us. He’s slow to anger and abounding in love.

You know the scene. You’ve rushed to the grocery store to get a few critical items your family needs. Your plan is to get in and out as quickly as is humanly possible. You sprint down the aisles and grab your stuff, then run to the checkout lines, only to discover that the self-serve lanes are closed for repair and only one clerk is working. Just as you reach her lane, a woman pulls in front of you with a cart of 150 items. You can feel your chest tighten. It’s not enough that she slowly reexamines every item as she puts it on the belt, but after emptying her cart she pulls out 120 coupons that have to be cross-checked with the corresponding grocery items. You’re beginning to get angry. Finally her quest to save every last penny is over, but then she discovers that she has to pay. It’s as if it’s a fresh concept to her. Until this point, she has made no move toward her purse, which is about the size of a camping tent for six. As she begins to pull makeup, cookies, and small children out of her purse, you bellow, “Come on, are you kidding me?” As everyone at the front of the store turns to look at you, you realize you said it louder than you planned.

Examine the moment with me. You are livid at this woman, but she didn’t purposefully delay you. You are seething, but you have lost only ten minutes out of your day. You’re incensed, but the whole thing is ridiculously minor. You’re mad because your anger is close to the surface. You’re irritated because anger is more natural to you than patient love. You have not loved the woman in front of you well because you were so busy focusing on yourself that you had little energy left to respond lovingly toward her.

Isn’t it comforting to know that God is the polar opposite of what I have just described? He who has the right to be angry with us and the power to do whatever his anger desires is in fact slow to anger. The Bible doesn’t tell you that he abounds in anger, but it is quick to reassure you that he is abounding in love. Be thankful today that God is not like us, because if he were, you and I would be damned. Be thankful that he is incredibly patient and eternally kind. Be thankful that he is tender, gentle, and gracious. Be thankful that he does not treat you as your sins deserve. Be thankful that because of the work of Jesus, he will respond to you with lovingkindness even on your worst day. “The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression” (Num. 14:18).

For further study and encouragement: Psalm 104