Psalm 103:8–12
IT HAPPENS TO ALL OF US. Teachers as well as students. Cops as well as criminals. Parents as well as kids. The diligent as well as the lazy. Not even presidents are immune. Or corporation heads who earn six-figure salaries.
What am I talking about? Making mistakes, that’s what. Doing the wrong thing, usually with the best of motives. And it happens with remarkable regularity.
Let’s face it, success is overrated. All of us crave it despite daily proof that humanity’s real genius lies in quite the opposite direction. It’s really incompetence that we’re all good at. We’ve all blown it. So, welcome to the club. And I’ve said for years that God is often easier to get along with than His people. Why do we kick each other when we’re down? Pour salt into open wounds? Keep records of each other’s failures? Because we’re not like God.
Here’s some good news:
The LORD is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens and the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.
PSALM 103:8–12
If our perfect Lord is gracious enough to take our worst failures and forgive them, burying them in the depths of the sea, then it’s high time we give each other a break. In fact, He promises full acceptance along with full forgiveness in print for all to read . . . without an erratum sheet attached. After all, imperfection is one of the few things we still have in common. It links us close together in the same family! He doesn’t lower the boom in response to our blunders. He offers grace upon grace upon grace. And then He forgets all about it. Praise Him!
Has God worked in your life in a significant way through Chuck Swindoll and the ministry of Insight for Living? Whatever your story, we’d love for you to tell it to us! Psalm 9:11 tells us to “declare among the peoples His deeds” so others can be encouraged. Submit your story.
Devotional content taken from Good Morning, Lord . . . Can We Talk? by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2018. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a division of Tyndale House Ministries. All rights reserved. The full devotional can be purchased at tyndale.com.
