Full Of Compassion

The other night at church, a verse was mentioned and it’s been on my mind ever since.  I just had to share it.

“But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.”
Psalm 78:38

This Psalm is about the children of Israel, how they dealt with God and how He dealt with them. No matter what God did for them, they couldn’t be content. They demanded more, they doubted God’s ability to see to their needs, they disobeyed God and turned away from Him to worship idols…  Still, it says here that God forgave them and didn’t destroy them, He turned His anger away,  and didn’t stir up all His wrath.

I couldn’t tell you much else about what the preacher said that night because I kinda got stuck at this verse…  When I thought about this and how God does the same for us, I was like — Wow!

We — God’s children — so often forget all of the good God has done for us.  We forget the blessings that we were once so thankful for.  We become discontented with our situation, we doubt God’s ability to care for our needs, we disobey Him… And, yes… we even turn away from Him to worship “idols”.  But He still forgives us.  He, so many times, has turned His anger away and not shown us all His wrath.  Of course, God punishes us.  But He does not let loose with His anger at what we do.  We have never felt the full extent of God’s wrath.

Do we deserve His anger and wrath?  Most definitely!  But He loves us and is “full of compassion” and  forgives us anyway.  Like I said earlier… Wow!  What a God we serve!