What is God Like?

“The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The LORD is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.” Psalm 145:8-9

One of the things I’ve learned through the years I’ve been a pastor is that a person’s understanding of God has a huge influence on her or his life. We see this in people who engage in lives of love, devotion, service, compassion, justice, and generosity that are inspired by their view of God. We also see how some people’s understanding of God leads to judgmental, hateful, abusive, violent behavior even to the point of committing mass murder. Our understanding of what God is like is tremendously important and it’s significantly shaped by our parent’s view of God as well as by any preaching, teaching, or education that we experience.

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April 3, 2016
Psalm 145:8-9 What is God Like?
Pastor Doug Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church

What our parents, pastors, and teachers shared with us about God can be life giving, inspiring, comforting, and appealing; or it can be disturbing, confusing, scary, or a turn off. If we believe God to be angry, vengeful, and judgmental that will shape us in a certain way. We will be formed in a far different way if we believe God “is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The LORD is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.” Part of the struggle we see in the world today is a struggle about what understanding of God will have the greatest impact and influence on the most people.

The summary of what God is like in Psalm 145:8 is probably one of the oldest confessions of faith in the Bible. The fact that it’s both so ancient and repeated numerous times in the scriptures tells us how important and central it is to biblical faith. Yet it seems like many people both inside and outside the church, if asked to describe what God is like, wouldn’t necessarily respond with this wonderful description of God from the Bible. “The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”  To be gracious is to be kindly disposed or to show favor and mercy to someone, usually by a person of superior position and power to a person of inferior position and power. In the Bible, it is above all God who is gracious toward human beings. Mercy is an attribute of God and good people. Hebrew uses several words for ‘mercy,’ of which the most frequent is ḥesed, which means loving-kindness, mercy, love, loyalty, and faithfulness. I want to walk us through a number of times that this affirmation of God’s character appears in the Bible. I hope by the end of worship today you will have this verse in your mind and heart so that you’ll always remember it.

The first place we see this description of God is in the second book of the Bible in Exodus 34. The context of this chapter is that Moses is working cutting two new stone tablets for the second edition of the Ten Commandments. Moses had smashed the first one to smithereens in a fit of anger when he came down from the mountain and saw how the people had made an idol out of gold and were dancing around the golden calf (see Exodus 32:19-20). Exodus 34:5-7 describes what happened when the Lord met Moses on the mountain.  “⁵ The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name, “The Lord.” ⁶ The Lord passed before him, and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, ⁷ keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means clearing the guilty, but visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

If you’re like me that all sounds good right through the part about “forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,” it’s the rest of that last sentence that doesn’t sound so good. How can God be merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet punish children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren for the iniquities of their ancestors? That doesn’t make sense. The last phrase seems to contradict everything that precedes it. It isn’t fair or right. How could a merciful, loving, and forgiving God punish future generations for something for which they had zero responsibility? As I thought and prayed about that the answer I reached is this: that the Lord is describing the result of the iniquity of parents, not that God is causing or initiating it. People who study family systems, pediatricians who work with babies, social workers and counselors who serve at risk children know that the sins, inadequacies, weaknesses, failures, or even abuse of parents directly impacts their children. Sadly we see this in the news every week in the most extreme cases, but we see it in our own families as well. One of the reasons why the Bible urges us so strongly to live like Jesus and to reflect the character of God is because the consequences of our behavior and choices extend far beyond ourselves to our families and to everyone else in our circles of relationship.

In Numbers 14:13-24 there’s another version of the same incident in Exodus 34. In both Exodus and Numbers, Moses intercedes for the people, and “talks God out of” a terrible response.  In Numbers 14, Moses encourages the Lord to use God’s power in a gracious, forgiving, and loving manner rather than in a destructive way. In Numbers 14:13-24 Moses says, “17 And now, therefore, let the power of the LORD be great in the way that you promised when you spoke, saying, 18 ‘The LORD is slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children to the third and the fourth generation.’ 19 Forgive the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have pardoned this people, from Egypt even until now.” Moses is asking God to forgive, not because the people deserve it because they don’t, but according to the greatness of God’s steadfast love. 20 Then the LORD said, “I do forgive, just as you have asked;” however, all the people who didn’t obey God and who complained and tested God repeatedly – none of them would see the Promised Land. There are consequences to disobedience even when God forgives us, just as there are consequences that may be irreversible even when we forgive someone or when someone forgives us.

The next time today’s description of God appears is in Nehemiah 9:12-20, 30-31 where Nehemiah retells the same experience from Exodus of the Israelites being blessed by the wonders God performed, following God in the wilderness, the Lord giving them the commandments to live by, manna to eat, water from the rock, and the stubborn people’s repeated disobedience. Numbers 9:17, 30-31 affirms, “But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and you did not forsake them.” 30 Many years you were patient with them, and warned them by your spirit through your prophets; yet they would not listen. Therefore you handed them over to the peoples of the lands. 31 Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.” The pattern that starts to emerge is that God’s character is consistent, but sadly, so is the behavior of stubborn, disobedient people. This is an iniquity that seems to be passed from generation to generation as well.

In the Book of Psalms, we hear several times “The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love including in Psalm 86, 145, and 103.  Psalm 86:5, 15; “For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you. But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”

It’s with Psalm 103 that we see a very important shift. We heard Psalm 103:6-14, earlier in the service. The key is verses 8-10. “6 The LORD works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed. 7 He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. 8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us. 13 As a father has compassion for his children, so the LORD has compassion for those who fear him.14 For he knows how we were made; he remembers that we are dust.”

Now either God has changed, which I doubt, or humanity’s understanding of God has matured – which I suspect to be true. After hundreds of years and many generations, there was an awakening to the fact that God, “will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.”

This understanding of what God is like – that not only is God gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, but that God doesn’t always accuse, stay angry, or deal with us as we deserve, is seen also in the prophets. Joel 2:12-13, “Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13 rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the LORD, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.”

In Jonah 3:10-4:4, “10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it. 4 But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. 3 And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 And the LORD said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

Jonah basically quotes Joel and repeats the same affirmation of faith about God, but Jonah is unhappy about it! Jonah is God’s instrument in the most effective evangelistic outreach in the Bible – and he’s disappointed! Jonah, angry with God, went out of the city of Nineveh (Mosul in Iraq today) to sulk and watch what God would do.  The problem is not so much in Jonah’s head but in his heart. It was not so much a theological error that ignited his anger but his spiritual poverty. He knew what his faith tradition said about God, “for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.” Yet he refused to accept the implications of what his faith said about God. Improbably Nineveh has been saved, but rather than rejoice, Jonah seems more disappointed that he has failed at a religious job. He had predicted the destruction of Nineveh and it didn’t happen. Perhaps he felt foolish and incompetent and angry. He had been surprised by grace.

Angry about mercy and forgiveness and lives being restored and given new hope, Jonah turns to God in prayer which is good. Jonah’s angry prayer of self-justification is not good. He basically prays, “I’ve been right all along, everything happened just the way I thought it would. That’s why I didn’t want to come here in the first place. I knew you’d let those dirty rotten Assyrians off the hook.”

It’s interesting to note how Jonah and God speak in the fourth chapter of Jonah.  Jonah speaks primarily in angry declarations.  God speaks three times and all three times God addresses Jonah and us in the form of a question. God’s first question to Jonah is, “Is it right for you to be angry?” God wants us to figure things out for ourselves. God doesn’t say, “You self-centered, uncaring, short tempered little twit, what in heaven’s name is the matter with you?”  God says, “Is it right for you to be angry?”  What form of speech are we more likely to employ on a regular basis, an angry declarative statement about someone or something like Jonah, or a question, like God?

Jonah’s so intent on his need to be right, to say, “I told you so,” that in his anger he misses what God is doing. His notion of God has been too small, too limited.  In his book, The Song of the Bird, Anthony de Mello tells the story of an elephant and a rat.  “An elephant was enjoying a leisurely dip in a jungle pool when a rat came up to the pool & insisted that the elephant get out. “I won’t,” said the elephant.  “I insist you get out this minute,” said the rat.  “Why?” asked the elephant.  “I shall tell you that only after you’re out of the pool,” replied the rat. “Then I won’t get out,” said the elephant.  But finally curiosity got the best of the elephant and he lumbered out of the pool, stood dripping in front of the rat, and said, “Now then, why did you want me to get out of the pool?”  The rat replied, “To see if you were wearing my bathing suit.” 

An elephant will sooner fit into the bathing suit of a rat than will God will fit into our limited notions of God. What we do know about God is this:

“The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The LORD is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.” Psalm 145:8-9

 

Questions for Reflection or Discussion

1. If someone asked you what God was like, how would you answer? How would you describe God to someone?
2. When you think of your answer to what is God like – are there particular verses, passages, or stories in the Bible that come to your mind? What are they?
3. Are there personal experiences, traditions, or learning outside of the Bible that has shaped your view of or belief in God? What are they?
4. The four fold statement about God that is referred to in so many scriptures is: “The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” Personally or as a group, how would you define or describe each of those attributes – gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love?
5. What do those four terms tell us about the nature and character of God?
6. What are the implications for our lives, our thoughts, our speech, our actions if we take seriously being a reflection of our God in the world?