He is willing, He is waiting

Psalm 86:5 For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.

Psalm 86:5 is one of those verses (like most of God’s Word) that has an amazing amount of information packed in very few words. Take a close look:

1) God is good. I have heard so many people say, “I would never serve a God that would send someone to hell.” God is good, Holy and Righteous. How good would He be if He let sin go unpunished?

Would you consider an earthly judge good if he gave a wink and a nod to a child rapist and murderer and let him go free without restitution or consequence for his crimes? No?…then why do you expect the Judge of the Universe to give a wink and a nod to your sin? You might say, “that’s a little dramatic comparing my ‘little bitty’ sin to a child rapist; after all, I am not even close to that wicked!” To which I would say, “by the world’s standards, neither am I”; however, God’s standard is perfection, sinless perfection….are you sinless?

He is good, that is why He cannot let sin go unpunished. But, He is also love, that is why He sent His Son, who willingly took the burden of our sin upon Himself. Someone might say, why did God the Father send His Son, why did His Son have to do it? I was thinking about this the other day, not in a “questioning God” sense; but in a curious sense; and it hit me. As an earthly father I would rather take on the pain and hurt of my kids. I would rather suffer than see them suffer, and I do not believe I am alone; I think most parents feel the same way. So for God the Father to pour His Wrath out on His Son, for us, and His Son to willingly receive it, is the most amazing act of Love imaginable.

So, yes God is good!

2) God is ready to forgive. You and I deserve no Mercy, we deserve no Grace, we do not deserve forgiveness; yet God is ready to forgive.

Who is He ready to forgive? All that call on Him. When we call out to Him with a broken and contrite heart:

“Lord, be merciful to me a sinner”

He hears us, He forgives us, and He gives us a new heart with new desires.

When we use the Name of the Lord, we are saying that He is our King, we are His slave, and we will lay down our selfish desires and ambitions, and instead say, “no longer my will, Lord, but Yours be done in my life.”

Are you ready to call out to Him today, because, He is ready to forgive. He is ready to wash you clean in His Blood. When we put our faith in Jesus and repent, it is not that our sin went unpunished; it was punished and paid in full on the Cross by Jesus. When we surrender our life to Him, we are accredited with His righteousness so we are no longer seen for who we are, but instead, we are seen as having the perfect, sinless, righteousness of Christ. This all happens through Jesus Christ; and not only is He willing, He is waiting.