Monday Manna - Justice and Mercy

What is God like?

"...Let thine eyes observe My ways."

(Proverbs 23:26)

Is He a stern ruler that requires man to measure up to His high standards? Are His ways so high that we cannot attain them? Does He punish those who go their own way?

God is holy. He is pure. His laws are right. He is the Creator and Designer of all things. He also has the power to destroy.

"Be not wise in thine own eyes;

fear the Lord, and depart from evil."

(Proverbs 3:7)

Yet...

there is another side of our God.

Like a light and shelter in the midst of an angry storm, we find that God is also gracious and merciful, and full of compassion. So sweet is that mercy in the midst of our sin and God's justice!

Jonah said,

"...for I knew that Thou art a gracious God,

and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness..."

A holy and righteous God cannot allow sin to go unpunished, so how can He also be merciful and gracious? It was at the cross that His justice met His mercy. Jesus, the sinless man, took the punishment for sin to satisfy the requirement of God's justice. Those who accept this wondrous gesture of love receive the gift of God's mercy.

"Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne;

mercy and truth shall go before Thy face."

(Psalm 89:14)

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