Psalm 103 Came Home to Me
Psalm 103 is by far one of my favorite Psalms. Every word the psalmist writes is tinged with God’s attributes of love, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, kindness, grace, justice, you name it. Yet in all my years of reading and loving this Psalm, its message never spoke to me as deeply as it did recently.
I had noticed that someone I knew for a very long time had been treating me differently. Whenever I was around her, I felt like she was isolating and ignoring me; therefore, I confronted her. Prior to that, we had had an argument, which I thought was long forgotten and resolved because in the past if we argued, we simply moved on. However, during the confrontation, I learned that based on the past argument we had had, she was now weighing her words around me. She was using that one incident, to determine how she interacted with me.
The truth both shocked and hurt me. I had not imagined what I was feeling. She was treating me differently on purpose. At that moment, Psalm 103 came into focus, especially, the following verses: “He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:10-12). The implication of these verses contrasted starkly with the treatment I was receiving from this person. Right then, I realized the extent of God’s mercy. I realized that despite my shortcomings and failures (and I have many) God forgives them all. God holds nothing against me, and His attitude towards me does not change regardless of my faults and shortcomings.
Since then, I have been introspective. I have even wondered if I have done something similar. Have I used a single incident or one unfavorable snapshot from a person’s life to determine how I treat them? I probably have, but you know what? I have come to realize my error. I had no right to use one unfavorable incident or even a multitude of unfavorable incidents from a person’s life to treat them differently because God does not treat me or anyone for that matter this way. It goes back to what Jesus said when Peter asked him if seven times were enough to forgive his brother who did him wrong. Jesus said, “I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, until seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:22). The implication is forgiveness has no limit, and who best demonstrates this? God. Therefore, since God forgives us time and time again regardless of our shortcomings and faults, we should forgive others just the same. Lesson learned!
This is on point. Love it❤