Psalm 130:3-4 NASB [3] If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? [4] But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared.
Micah 7:18-19 NASB [18] Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in unchanging love. [19] He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins Into the depths of the sea.
These are some great verses that give us real insight into the heart of God. A natural tendency is to think that the fear of God is all about Him being so big, and God certainly is big, but those two verses in Psalm 130 tell us that it is God’s ability and willingness to forgive us, that causes us to fear Him. We stand in awe of Him because He is so good, not just because He’s so big. We worship Him in spirit and in truth, and some seem to understand what it means to worship God in spirit. But we also worship Him in truth, and so many Christians don’t understand what that’s all about. The truth about God that releases our hearts to worship Him in spirit is that He is big, but He is also good. And the truth about the Father that Jesus was constantly trying to communicate to the Jewish people was that this Big Heavenly Father is amazingly good. This God of love, who is therefore so wonderfully good is so other than all the false gods in all the false religions.
In Micah, in light of the fact that God pardons iniquity and will pass over the rebellious acts of those who belong to Him because He delights in unchanging love, the question is asked; who is a God like you? God loves to forgive you because He loves to love you. It is so important that you get that down inside of you; God will always forgive you, not because He has to or because He’s made some covenant with you, because He delights in loving you, and that will never change. He’s not stuck with you, but He is stuck on you. He delights in His unchanging love for you and, therefore, is never reluctant to forgive because He’s not about keeping score; He’s about you being made whole in His goodness.