God Knows We Are Just Dust

The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.  He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.  For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;  as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.  As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.  For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. - Psalm 103:8-14

Every day I fall short in my quest to please God and to be like Jesus. But God knows us, He made us. He remembers that "we are dust." This is why Jesus came. This why we need to surrender our lives to Him. This is why we must receive Him as Lord and Savior. 

These verses from Psalm 103 are the Gospel. They are amazing truths about God and about why we can live in hope. They are why He is worthy of all our praise and worship. 

But you must fear Him. You must fear Him so much that you have no other option, no other hope, but to live in faith and in joyful expectation of His mercy and grace.

God's Anger of God's Mercy?

Countless times over the years I have heard pastors and teachers tell people, "God is not mad at you." Could someone show me the scripture that guarantees that? The author of Hebrews reminds us of the dangers of willful disobedience and rebellion to God and His Word.

Hebrews 3:7-11 

So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.' So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'"

This is THE Holy Spirit speaking, God Himself. It is possible that God can be angry with us.

Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts against Him and His Word.

Romans 2:5-8 

But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God "will give to each person according to what he has done." To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.

It's time to repent and accept the truth. To those who do so, God's love is expressed in His pouring out of grace and mercy through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, who suffered the anguish of God's wrath for us. To those who refuse Him, they will bear the eternal anguish of God's wrath and anger.

2 Corinthians 6:1-2 

As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. For he says, "In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.