Daily Devotions

The Lord works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed.

He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever.

He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. Psalm 103:6-10

Many times we will preface certain statements with the line, “Back in the day…” As in, “Back in the day when the Bible was written it was commonly understand that wealth and high social status were signs of God’s blessings while poverty, physical disabilities, or childlessness were understood to be God’s punishment or God’s curse.”

But I won’t waste the ink to preface that same statement today because I believe, deep down inside, we still believe stuff like this.

Intellectually we might not actually think that a physical disability is a sign of God’s punishment… but in the still of the night or in the midst of a crisis, our hearts still cry out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Enter the Bible and the realization that God works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed…who are enslaved…who are living “under the thumb of another.” Maybe God does “take sides” but not in the ways that we normally think.

Maybe God’s intervention on behalf of Moses and the lowly Israeli slaves wasn’t about how special they were but about God responding to the plight of the desperate. Like God coming to us in our own desperation.

The psalmist tells us that God is not cruel, harsh, punitive, uncaring, or absent. We might think that at times…we can even find Bible verses…lots of them…that make the case that God really is all those unloving things. But not here.

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

The Lord does not kick us when we are down. Even when we are down due to our own sin and selfishness. He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever.

He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.

What do we do with a God like that?

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, we confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart, and we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed. We have been both oppressor and oppressed, even by our own thoughts and actions. Forgive us, redeem us, use us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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