More Than We Deserve

Friday is here and YES there is a lot to be EXCITED for as we are gearing up for this long Memorial Day weekend lets take a moment to rejoice in the simple things in life such as are health, family, and friends. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. —Psalm 103:10 Sometimes when people ask how I’m doing, I reply, “Better than I deserve.” I remember a well-meaning 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! If God never does anything more than redeem us, He has already done far more than we deserve. Bible in a year: 1 Chronicles 19-21; John 8:1-27 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 [fullness] of his praiseful gratitude.”