“But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.”
Psalm 86:15 (NIV)
Mostly every prophet in the Old Testament speaks of a gracious and slow to anger God, who does not forsake us, even when His people behave in arrogance and unbelief. Nehemiah describes His people as stiff-necked and rebellious, and yet God is forgiving, gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love, who never deserted them.(Nehemiah 9:17)
David described a loving God who forgives the arrogant and shows abundant mercy to the morally fallen or faithless. David simply wrote about what he himself experienced, after falling into sin, and later repenting and receiving God’s abundant mercy.
Zechariah foretold of a fountain of mercy that would come to all people through the house of David and cleanse them from sin. Jesus, a descendant of David, is that fountain of mercy, forever.
Isaiah said that although our sins are red as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. (Isaiah 1:18)
What kind of a God so patiently pursues people, to cleanse and restore them, despite their flaws and faithless moments?
The answer is: a God who is worthy for us to entrust every part of ourself to Him.
I recently heard a true story about someone who experienced this kind of mercy and forgiveness. I am a super fan of the Chosen movie series, and recently heard a TV interview with the actor, Nick Shakour, who plays the role of Zebedee, the father of James and John, in the Chosen movie series.
Nick was chosen for the role before he was a believer. He grew up in Lebanon, the grandson of a Greek Orthodox priest, but over the years of tragedy and loss that he and his family witnessed in that war torn country, he grew bitter and angry, eventually losing his faith in God.
The day Nick accepted the role as Zebedee, for the faith based movie series, he told God, “I am going to do this, but I really don’t believe you exist.” We might expect that God would reject or turn away from someone who spoke that way to Him, but God is faithful even when we are faithless. (2 Timothy 2:13)
God isn’t thin skinned or easily driven away by the arrogance and unbelief of people. He knows everyone’s personal story and has relentless love and patience beyond our comprehension, and He never stops pursuing them.
There were two construction crew workers on the movie set of the Chosen, who were Christians and felt strongly led by the Holy Spirit to approach Nick one day and invite him to a big prayer meeting event. Nick was reluctant, but he went, just to please his coworker friends, yet he expected to react with cynicism.
At that prayer conference, people who Nick never knew or saw before, came up to him and laid hands on him to pray. He felt a compelling and powerful presence of the Holy Spirit working deep within him. He started to feel an urge to release the anger that had controlled him for so long. He gave up his anger by surrendering his life to Christ at that prayer event.
In that moment, Nick had a personal encounter with Jesus, realizing how much God, his Father, has always loved him, and he was totally changed from that day onward. Nick now has a hunger to spend as much time with Jesus as possible. He shares his story on various Christian TV shows. His life has changed so dramatically that he holds back tears whenever he shares his story.
Nick is just one example of millions of people who have come to know a God of relentless mercy, patience, love and forgiveness. We serve a God who is forever faithful, even if we are faithless.
Lord, thank you for being such a merciful, loving and ever faithful God. Give us more of your love and patience and change the hearts of our friends and relatives who are not believers, so that they may also know your mercy. Amen
