Eight Passages

 

Yesterday we held the words of the prophet Joel who said God is, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from punishment.  I invited you to think about the images, pictures, feelings, sensations this description of the Divine swirled in your soul.  Now let’s expand and explore where Joel got this idea from:

 

The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation.  Exodus 34:6-7a.

 

‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but by no means clearing the guilty.  Numbers 14:18a

 

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

 

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  Psalm 103:8

 

 Jonah prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning, for I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from punishment.  Jonah 4:2

 

The people refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their necks and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and you did not forsake them.  Nehemiah 9:17

 

The Lord is slow to anger but great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.

His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.  Nahum 1:3

 

What do you notice in the above eight passages?  Which words are repeated from book to book?  Which descriptions and depictions of God are slightly different?  For example, some emphasize God’s graciousness and goodness to the thousandth generations.  Others say, “Well, perhaps God isn’t just a doormat we can wipe our sinful (which is to say our disordered longings) shoes on to feel better about ourselves.  Some prioritize love, other parts prioritize our relationship with God matters and makes a difference/makes us different.  Eight passages, all from the Hebrew Bible, that are remarkably in consensus on the character and qualities of the Creator.  Hold these passages pondering where do you sense God’s grace right now?  What does God’s mercy feel like (for me it is reminding me that I am God’s child, not God’s employee)?  What does it mean that God’s first response is not anger but curiosity and caring and compassion?  What does it mean that God doesn’t leave us orphaned (see John 14:18)?  Let these passages awaken you to encounter and explore a connection with God whose presence was, is, and will be an advocated for our humanness and longs for a life-giving relationship with each of us.  Amen.