No Love Greater                                        Psalm 103:1-12

We’ve spent the past two weeks looking at failures of mankind. Failures that go against God. Failures that demand punishment from a perfect and holy God. And if we just stop there we would be tempted to lament “What’s the point, I can never get it right, why bother?”

I read about a student in a youth group who stood up in the middle of a meeting and announced to the leader, “I don’t believe in God.” Unfazed the leader looked at the student for a few seconds and said, “Tell me what causes you to not believe in God?” The student spoke of an uncaring and vengeful God, one who relishes our pain and looks to punish us at every turn. The leader nodded and replied, “You know, I don’t believe in that God either. The God I believe in is full of love and compassion.”

As you study the Bible you’ll find it illuminates a deity that cares, one that is wholly invested in us, a God who loves us and gave his all so we can be his and share in his glory. As Good Friday and Easter are almost upon us it benefits us to see how all the events surrounding those days are for our benefit and done out of love.

David wrote Psalm 103 as a way for him to try to describe the great love he came to understand God has for him and for all men. Verse 2, “Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” When my children were young, they knew I loved them because I provided for them. I made sure they were fed, had cloths, were warm and safe. They saw that I gave up things I wanted in order to provide what they needed. Now my son knows I love him because I listen to him, I give advice and direction when it’s needed, and I hold my tongue when it’s needed so he can learn knowing whatever mistake he may make I’m here with help.

God does this for all of us. He provides what we need, Psalm 22:25, “The poor will eat and be satisfied.” Psalm 107:9, “for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.”

When we pray God answers, but like I loved my children enough to let them make their own mistakes sometimes God does the same. Love is not ruling with an iron fist, it’s encouraging learning and growth, Proverbs 4 verses 1-2, “Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention…I give you sound learning.”

God indeed loves us, but my point is not simply God loves but that God is love. Love is not just an attribute of God’s. Love is his very being. Genesis 3 tells us about man’s fall and at the time the Bible records the existence of just one man and one woman. It would have been easy for God to wave them out of existence and start over. God loved them so much, loved their potential so much, loved us so much even though our birth would be millennia away; he at that very moment created the means of our redemption and forgiveness. Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike at his heal.” At the very moment of man’s fall God set in motion a savior from heaven given through a woman will crush Satan. Satan may cause us problems and discomfort, but he will never be able to snatch us out of God’s hand.

One reflection I have is we say God is love but that isn’t saying love is God, there is a difference. It’s kind of like the difference in saying my dog is a girl and my girl is a dog. God is loves means he always wants the very best for you. It means God always has your best interest at heart. It means he wants to give you all his benefits.

 Spiritual benefits. God’s love removes the curtain between him and us by removing our debt of sin and reestablishing our relationship with him.

Emotional benefits. By removing sin’s guilt from us God’s love heals our emotional pain over our sin.

 Physical benefits. Through our faith our sin is forgiven allowing us to stop exerting all our energy trying to win God’s favor thereby allowing us to enjoy the entirety of creation.

Judicial benefits. Often for us love involves ignoring things in someone we don’t like. I loved Jared but I had to accept his drug use, but there were times when one bled into the other, times when my love for the person was affected by the disease I hated. Love is often expressed as the virtue that accepts everything. God’s love hates what is wrong and embraces what is right. As Christians we still sin, divine love is that God never lets that which he hates; our sin, bleed into how he embraces what is right;      our faith in Jesus.

Psalm 103’s verse 4 is the description of the height of God’s love for us, “who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion.” Redeems you from the pit. That is the pit of eternal anguish we’re condemned to by unrepentant sin. Through faith and trust in Jesus at the cross God redeems us; Job 33:28, “He has redeemed my soul from going to the pit and my life shall see the light.”

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary redeem means to extricate from that which is detrimental to one’s well-being. God certainly does this; the pit would definitely be detrimental to my being. But redeem also means to free one from a lien by payment. Jesus at the cross paid our sin debt. And redeem can mean to make good. God through his grace and mercy removes our sin and makes us good, he sees only perfection when he looks upon us. When we say God redeems us from the pit it is because he himself paid the cost of our sin, because he changes us from sinful beings into perfection in his eyes and because he takes our future in eternity out of the pit and places it at his table in heaven.

Being saved from hell’s pit is good, great in fact; but to see it involves our passing from this world into the next. As great as this redemption is do we think God is only concerned with this? Isaiah 41:10, “so do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

“God, redeem me from this pit of despair.” “Your life is my gift to you; you despair because you see what you want and don’t have. See what blessings I have given you and be glad.”

“God, redeem me from my pit of disease.” “Your condition is temporary. As long as you still breath see the glory of my creation. Turn to me and accept and you will see your future whole and healthy.”

“God, free my from this pit of injustice.” “I am the final judge on all of creation. I am for you, your enemies cannot break you nor remove you from my grasp.”

Verse 5, “…so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

The eagle represents the Holy Spirit so here God is telling us that his very spirit will be infused with yours and restore the strength of your very soul. The eagle also represents power. God tells us that with his spirit in you, you will be renewed and the power f your spirit cannot be overpowered by Satan.

One of the most important things to remember about God’s love is It is forever, and it never changes. I’ve shared this before, when our son Jared was in the worst of his addiction there were times we welcomed him with open arms and times we kept him at arm’s length. His actions affected our reactions and our trust. Once you accept Christ God’s actions are never again affected by your actions; 2 Timothy 23:13, “If we are faithless, he remains faithful…” As humans we are affected by the emotions and actions of others. How many times have you felt alright until you’re confronted with someone else who is angry and suddenly, you’re angry? Why, their mood has nothing to do with you. As God, once you accept the cross nothing changes how he feels about you. Psalm 136:26, “Give thanks to the God in heaven, his love endures forever.”

The past two weeks we looked at the failures of mankind as shown through scripture. Scripture shows us these failures not to put a heavy weight on us but to make us aware; aware of our actions, aware of the weight Jesus bore on the cross.

As Good Friday approaches we should be looking for scriptures like today’s; scriptures that show us God’s great love for us. Scriptures like our reading’s verse 10, “he does not treat us as our sins deserve nor repay us according to our inequities.”

When he went to the cross Jesus wore a crown of thorns so we can wear a crown of glory. When at the cross Jesus gave up his cloak of cloth so we can wear a robe of righteousness. On the cross Jesus gave his mortal life so we can live forever in heaven.

Remember this as we move through the rest of this easter season. The greatest showing of love in all the universe is Jesus bleeding on the cross.

Amen.