“…and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest Him of the evil.” Joel 2:13
Jonah and Joel must have gone to the same Bible college, for their vision and knowledge of God was the same. Both men, as the prophets of God, were living and ministering in difficult times, when there was great spiritual need among the people of Israel. Great was the suffering because of their disobedience. God would even use their enemies to chastise them, bringing them to desolation not only by the armies of foreign powers, but by the natural enemies of pests and insects, which ravaged the country side. And yet, in the midst of Jonah being called to go to Ninevah, the capital of the Assyrian empire, probably the greatest adversary and enemy to Israel at that time, and Joel writing of the “day of the Lord,” being a day of judgment which was approaching, both men would declare before all Israel and the world, that, as Jonah would communicate: “…I knew that Thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.” (Jonah 4:2)
When Moses was leading the people of Israel towards the promised land, there came a day when, in communion with God he asked for two things. The first part of his prayer was as follows: “Now therefore, I pray Thee, if I have found grace in Thy sight, shew me now Thy way, that I may know Thee.” (Exodus 33:13) The second part of the prayer was very simple, but very far reaching: “I beseech Thee, shew me Thy glory.” (33:18) God answered both prayers very specifically, in the first place by promising Moses, “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” (v.14) The other answer to his prayer reveals exactly what Jonah and Joel came to understand about God, and this, in spite of the difficult circumstances of their day. The Lord declared to Moses, after promising to, “…make all My goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee,” (v.19) that He, the Lord God was “…merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth…keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by not means clear the guilty.” (Ex. 34:6,7) The point is this. The Lord Jesus Christ is the same, as Scripture declares: “…yesterday, today, and forever.” And how is He the same? He is the God of grace, and mercy, loving kindness and truth, and good. The same God that could have been sought and found at the Tabernacle in the wilderness, at the Temple of Jerusalem, in the crowd that surrounded Christ during His ministry, and after the resurrection, especially since the day of Pentecost, is the same today. He reveals Himself in His absolute goodness, mercy, and love, so that sinful man will not flee from Him, but respond to the overtures of His heart to come to Him to be saved, delivered, and KNOW Him.
It was said of missionaries to Greenland at a certain time, that though they sought to spread the Gospel, and communicate the truth to the people, their’s was primarily a message with the emphasis on the judgment of God. They knew little success until they began to speak of the love of God, that single most powerful attractive element to God for the lost soul. It was Lucy A. Bennett who put it like this: “O teach me what it meaneth, For I am full of sin; And grace alone can reach me, and love alone can win.”
If ever the believer needs to be convinced of the grace and mercy of God, he has only to look into heaven at the throne of God where, according to the Scriptures, he can come, “…to obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb. 4:16) The Sovereign, Almighty, Holy God, is gracious and merciful.
Dear Father, Strengthen us to come. In Jesus’ name, Amen.