Morning Thoughts - by Elder Philip Conley

Morning Thoughts

Psalm 103:8-10, "The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities."

This morning, there are many that have a misconception about the way that the Lord operates. Some think that the Lord does not punish certain iniquity and transgression. Others think that He will never find them out in their wrongdoing. Some even think that we will have to give account of ourselves at the final day standing before the great white throne. While we cannot fully understand the mind of God (His ways are not our ways), we can glean some things about his operations from His Word.

The first thing to remember when pondering on the Lord's actions are whether they are in regard to the elect or non-elect. When dealing with the elect, the Lord does that in time on a daily basis as a Father deals with His children. David goes on to mention the Lord dealing with us as children later in this Psalm. There is not a child of God that "gets away" with iniquity. Sometimes, as a youngster, I would hide things from my parents in hopes of never being found out. Most of the time it did not work, but occasionally I did get away with things.

However, the Lord is far above any earthly father; He sees all and judges all with a righteous judgment. Our sins will find us out, for the Lord sees us when we transgress. However, we are told that He is merciful and gracious. So, does He judge us, or deal graciously with us? The answer is both. Eternally, our judgment was paid IN FULL by the blood of Christ. We will NEVER have to stand before the great white throne and give account of ourselves to God. To do that, would bring down the sacrifice of Christ. However, we appear before the judgment seat of Christ on a daily basis to answer for our daily sins.

So, what about the non-elect? How does the Lord deal with them? We are told that He will not always chide and keep His anger. The Lord allows the wicked to move in this life without the problems that the elect have. Job talks about the prosperity the wicked have in this life. (Job 21) Abraham reminded the rich man of the good things that he had in life, whereas now he was tormented in Luke 16. The wicked are not like the righteous. Have you ever heard stories of good people that died in a car wreck while the wicked man on the other side lived? These things do not make sense to our minds, but the Lord will judge this wickedness.

Again, there is nothing hidden before Him. Many people blame Him when they see the prosperity of the wicked. They call Him unjust. However, the wicked will be punished, and their punishment will be everlasting. They will stand before the great white throne, and they will be unable to give an account of themselves. For, the Lord will show them over and over in the books where they have fallen short.

But, oh how thankful we ought to be that He does not deal with us after our transgressions. His Son suffered ours for us. The Lord loves us and is gentle unto us. While I may have gotten some spankings that I thought I did not deserve, I got away with more than those spankings made up for. With our Lord, He always chastens us, but His goodness far exceeds His chastening. Truly, He has been better to us than we deserve. Finally, with the distinction of the person under consideration, one can say that the Lord is ALWAYS just, and His judgments are true and righteous in every case. May we ever strive to never blame Him for things that are not to be laid against Him.

In Hope,

Bro Philip