God’s Great Mercy, Forgiveness, & Love

(Psalm 103:11-14)

Mike Johnson

Verses 11-14 tell us about the greatness of God’s compassion.  They say, “ (11) For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; (12) As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.  (13) As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him.  (14) For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.”  Consider three comparisons made to emphasize God’s mercy, forgiveness, and pity.

God’s mercy is “as the heavens are high above the earth” (11).  The distance to the sun and planets, for example, is almost unfathomable to imagine.  The sun, for instance, is 93 million miles away, and mathematicians tell us that it would take 177 years to get to the sun in a car traveling 60 miles per hour.  Yet, as far away as they are, God has that much mercy (often translated “love”) for those who fear Him.  His mercy is of overwhelming magnitude.

Next, God has removed our transgressions, “as far as the east is from the west” (12).  A person going north who reaches the North Pole, continuing to travel, will start going south.  You can only travel so far north, and then you will change directions.  The person who starts moving east around the globe will always be traveling east, never changing directions.  This simile denotes infinite space.

At this time, people probably thought the earth was flat.  People during biblical times would have perhaps imagined the space from the eastern to the western edges of the earth, which they would have perceived as a great distance.  However, this outlook would not have expressed the full force of this verse.

After doing what the Bible says Christians must do for forgiveness, some may not have full confidence in God’s mercy –– doubts may persist.  We must trust God’s Word, however.  God says, in Isaiah 43:25, “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.”  In Isaiah 38:17, Hezekiah declared that God had cast all of his sins behind His back. Speaking of what would happen in the New Covenant, God said, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Heb. 8:12).

To what degree has God removed our transgressions?  He has done so as far as the east is from the west, a distance beyond imagination.  No matter how far people go, they cannot outdistance the extent of God’s forgiveness.  God forgives in this way because of his mercy/love for us.

Finally, the question is asked, “How does God pity us?”  The text (13) says he does so as a father pities his children.  (Many translations say, “has compassion.”) The concept of God being our Father occurs throughout the Scriptures.  Parents typically love their children, and this emotion seems to be natural.

Consider an analogy Jesus used in Matthew 7:9-11, where He compares God to an earthly father:  “Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”

A similar comparison, showing God’s compassion, is used in the story of the Prodigal Son.  When the son returned, his father saw him and “had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him (Lk. 15:20-21).

God is our Father; He loves us as parents love their children.  Consider the following statement:

God is a Father to those that fear him and owns them for his children, and he is tender of them as a father. The father pities his children that are weak in knowledge and instructs them, pities them when they are froward and bears with them, pities them when they are sick and comforts them (Isa 66:13), pities them when they have fallen and helps them up again, pities them when they have offended, and, upon their submission, forgives them, pities them when they are wronged and gives them redress; thus the Lord pities those that fear him.” (Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible.)

Yet, it is essential to understand that God reserves this pity (compassion) for those who fear Him (13b).

Why does God have pity/compassion on us?  Verse 14 points out, “For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.”   One translation (NRSV) says, “For He knows how we were made,” and another, the NIV, says, “For He knows how we were formed.”

As our Creator (Gen. 2:7), God knows “we are dust” (14b). 1 Corinthians 15, which compares our earthly bodies to our spiritual bodies, which we will one day have, points out that God made Adam of dust, and we are like him (45-48).  Various passages speak of us returning to the dust (Gen. 3:19; Eccl. 3:20, 12:7).  On one occasion, Abraham approached God, recognizing  his  irrelevance, and said in Genesis 18:27, “Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord.”

As our Creator, God knows our frailties and weaknesses.  As noted, His compassion toward us is like what a father has for His children.  People often have pity and compassion for another person, or even an animal, when they are in a weakened or helpless state.  God knows we are of dust and are feeble –– He pities His children; He understands us.  Psalm 78:38-39 expresses a similar idea as it says, speaking of God, “But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, And did not destroy them. Yes, many a time He turned His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath; for He remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that passes away and does not come again.”

We should be so thankful to have God as our Father.  His mercy, forgiveness, and pity are beyond measure!