GOD IS LOVE!

At Mount Sinai, God declared concerning Himself: “The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth!” (Exodus 34:6).

Nearing the end of the forty years or wilderness-wanderings, Moses proclaimed, “He will not leave you, destroy you, or forget the covenant with your ancestors that he swore to them by oath, because the Lord your God is a compassionate God” (Deuteronomy 4:31).

Before crossing into the Promised Land, Moses warned the people that rejecting God’s leadership and direction would result in punishment. “When all these things happen to you—the blessings and curses I have set before you—and you come to your senses while you are in all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and all your soul by doing everything I am commanding you today, then he will restore your fortunes, have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you” (Deuteronomy 30:1–3).

God is compassionate!

The Psalmists sang, “You, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth” (Psalm 86:15). “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love… For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his faithful love toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him” (Psalm 103:8–13). “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and great in faithful love” (Psalm 145:8).

From creation, God has displayed compassionate love for His wayward creatures.

In the New Testament, “God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). “What great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children” (1 John 3:1). “We have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love!” (1 John 4:16).

“The Lord is compassionate and merciful!” (James 5:11) … and aren’t we glad!

“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).