Hebrew Highlights 41 – ABUNDANT GRACE

Shalom. This is Yuval Shomron, coming to you from Jerusalem.

PSA 86:5 For Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon Thee.

Well, I don’t know about you, but I, for one, am certainly glad that our God is abundant in lovingkindness, or grace, or mercy. Since I make abundant mistakes, I need every break I can get. The word translated as abundant is “Rav”, which can mean also great, or large. Let’s read a few more passages where this word is used.

PSA 86:15 But Thou, O Lord, art a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.

PSA 130:7 O Israel, hope in the Lord; For with the Lord there is lovingkindness, And with Him is abundant redemption.

PSA 145:7 They shall eagerly utter the memory of Thine abundant goodness, And shall shout joyfully of Thy righteousness.

PSA 147:5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.

So, we understand that not only is the Lord armed with plentiful mercy, He is also slow to get angry, good, gracious, and ready to forgive. If we could only apply these characteristics of the Heavenly Father in our own lives, the world would be a better place. We too often tend to be quick to anger, and harbor grudges for a long time. Perhaps we should remember from whence we have come, and to whom we owe our own redemption.

Now, of course, we should never take our salvation for granted. It is not automatic. Our Master wants us to come to Him and ask for forgiveness. We probably sometimes feel guilty about coming to Him over and over again for the same offences, yet this is exactly what we should do. If you feel embarrassed when returning to God, having again fallen in the same old sin, this is probably a good sign. Hopefully, our embarrassment will eventually lead us to the point of victory. Until that takes place though, we should not be shy to approach the throne, as our King waits with open arms.

We can see this principle in ISA 55:7. “Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, And He will have compassion on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.” What a wonderful God we serve. Just how great is His mercy?

Let’s look at PSA 103:11-12. “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

To help us understand this verse, I’d like to direct our attention to one little point in Hebrew. Some versions of the English Bible, as the one I read, say “As far as the east is from the west”. Actually the Hebrew says “kiRachok mizrach mima’arav”, or literally, “as far as East from West”. What’s the difference? Well, in Hebrew, the “the” doesn’t exist. So what? Well, when reading this verse from some particular location, let’s say for instance, from New York, we tend to think that our sins have been put away as far as New York is from China. After all, from that vantage point, we see THE east, and THE west.

Actually, in Hebrew, when we say simply East from West, we get the picture of ourselves being in the center, and God casting our sins away like a hurtling laser beam speeding far off into space Eastward and Westward for Eternity. Never to stop, or bounce back. Never to be seen or heard from again. Never, ever, to be remembered, or recounted, or revenged, or revealed, or revisited, or rediscovered.

God has finished with yesterday’s bad news. So don’t be afraid to approach Him again today. He has abundant fresh good news for you.

Shalom, Shalom, from Jerusalem.