OUR DAILY BREAD : MORE THAN WE DESERVE

[cimi]

May 23
Friday


MORE THAN
WE DESERVE

READ:
Psalm 103:6-18
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He has not dealt
with us according
to our sins, nor
punished us according
to our iniquities.
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Sometimes when people ask how I'm doing, I reply, "Better than i deserve." I remember a wel-lmeaning person responding, "Oh no, Joe, you deserve a lot," to which I replied, "Not really." I was thinking about what I truly deserve__God's judgment.

We easily forget how sinful we are at the core of our being. Thinking of ourselves more highly than we should diminishes our sense of deep indebtedness to God for His grace. It discounts the price he paid to rescue us.

Time for a reality check! As the psalmist reminds us, God "has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities" (Ps. 103:10). Considering who we are in light of a holy and just God, the only thing we truly deserve is hell. And heaven is an absolute impossibility__except for the gift of Christ's sacrifice on the cross. If God never does anything more than redeem us, He has already done far more than we deserve. No wonder the psalmist says, "as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him" (v.11).

Knowing ourselves for what we are, we can't help but say, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound!" He gives us so much more than we deserve. __Joe Stowell

````````````````````Lord, thank You for not dealing with me according to````````````````````
````````````````````my sins. I am indebted to you for the love and grace````````````````````
`````````````````````that You demonstrated on the cross to purchase my````````````````````
``````````````````````pardon and forgiveness__far beyond what I deserve!```````````````````
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If God never does anything more than redeem us,
He has already done far more than we deserve.

********************************Today's Bible Reading __ Psalm 103:6-18*********************************
6 The LORD executes
righteousness and justice
for all who are oppressed.

7 He made known His ways
to Moses, His acts to the
children of Israel. 8 The
LORD is merciful and
gracious, slow to anger, and
abounding in mercy. 9 He
will not always strive with
us, nor will He keep His
anger forever. 10 He has not
dealt with us according to
our sins, nor punished us
according to our iniquities.

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 eat 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.

1 As for man, his days are
like grass; as a flower of the
field, so he flourishes.

16 For the wind passes over
it, and it is gone, and its
place remembers it no more.

17 But the mercy of the
LORD is from everlasting to
everlasting on those who
fear Him, and His
righteousness to children's
children, 18 To such as keep
His covenant, and to those
who remember His
commandments to do them.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Charles Haddon Spurgeon wrote eloquently of Psalm 103: "[This
psalm of David] is in his own style when at its best, and we should
attribute it to his later years when he had a higher sense of the
preciousness of pardon, because [of] a keener sense of sin, than
in his younger days. His clear sense of the frailty of life indicates
his weaker years, as also does the very [fulness] of his praiseful
gratitude."