Mercy of God

Ezra 9:13-15 "And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities [deserve], and hast given us [such] deliverance as this; Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed [us], so that [there should be] no remnant nor escaping? O LORD God of Israel, thou [art] righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as [it is] this day: behold, we [are] before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this."

I am so thnkful that I serve a merciful Saviour. Here in this passage I see how great God really is and how longsuffering and merciful He is.

Israel had sinned greatly against God in seeking after other gods to serve. God punished them for their sin by allowing them to be conquered by their enemies. And then when the Israelites turned back to God He restored them to their land.

I am so thankful that I serve a God that even when He may have to punish me a little to turn my heart back to Him, His judgment is light. He doesn't just beat more or punish me for the fun of it. He is longsuffering and very light in His punishment. Then the great fact that God's only purpose in any kind of punishment to His children is that their heart would be drawn to Him. God only punished Israel so that they would see that He is God and they would turn back to Him.

I am so thankful that God is willing to restore us back to Him after we have done wrong. I am also so thankful that God really only punishes me to turn my heart to him when it is distant. God is not in heaven looking down at me just waiting to hit me over the head if I do anything wrong. He wants my heart to follow Him so He will discipline and punish me in ways so that I will stay close to Him.

Then lastly in the last verse Israel had returned back to their sin of idolatry after the restoration God brought. He sees that God has not judged them again and He is not punishing them immediately but He was being patient and longsuffering with them.

I am so thankful that God is longsuffering and knows that I am but a human and imperfect and He is incredibly patient and longsurffering with me. I serve the Great God!

I hope that this makes sense if anyone reads this. I called my blog rambling cause that is all that I do. It may not make sense. If it doesn't I am sorry.

By the way to the one lady that I know reads this; I hope that this is not boring and I like you!