On March 19, 2017, Evident Grace looked at this Big Picture Question:

Big Picture Question:  What is Your God Like?

To answer that question, we examined this portion of scripture:

Micah 7:18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance?  He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.  19 He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot.  You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.  20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.

And we found these 3 answers to our Big Picture Question

Big Picture Question:  What is Your God Like?

• God forgives
• His anger is short-lived.
• He is compassionate.

God forgives.

Micah 7:18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? 

Micah asks the people of his day (and us) to wrestle with who our God is.  Our God forgives sin.  His nature is forgiving.  Despite all the sin of Micah’s day, despite all the sin of ours, God yet still forgives.  His grace was shown to the people of Micah’s day because He passed over judgment for their sin and waited to pour out judgment on Jesus Christ.  We now get enjoy the forgiveness of our sins as Christ paid the full price of our sin.  This should propel us to worship as our God is a forgiving God.

His anger is short-lived

18b He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.

The people of Micah’s day were suffering under God’s wrath for their sin.  But the nature of God is that His anger is short-lived.  In fact, He delights in loving you continually and steadfastly.  How much more should we then have short-lived anger and steadfast love as we are know what true love is.

He is compassionate.

19 He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot.  You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.  20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.

Finally, our God is compassionate.  He treads your iniquities underfoot.  He makes your sin His enemy.  In fact, He throws your sins to the depths of the sea.  He removes your sins from you.  Why?  Because not only is God compassionate, He is faithful.  He keeps His promises.  He promised to Abraham and Jacob that He would be their God and they would be His people.  God promises you that as well.  He is compassionate because even though we sin, He still makes us His people. 

Big Picture Question:  What is Your God Like?

Truth:  God compassionately forgives because His anger against your sin was short-lived. 

Application:  Live knowing that all the anger that your sin deserves was poured out on Jesus Christ.

Action:  Explore the depths of your forgiveness so you might display that same forgiveness to those who need it.