E104 - Hope’s Harbor Gritty Bible Devotions - The Attributes of GOD - Goodness/Justice/Mercy - Part 5

Hope’s Harbor

Gritty Bible Devotions

Episode #104

Title: Attributes of GOD – His Goodness, Justice, and Mercy – Part 5

Date: May 1, 2023

Contact: info@hopesharbor.net

Key verses:

His Goodness: Psalm 107:8 – ‘Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men!’

Romans 2:4 – ‘Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?’

Goodness here means gentleness, kindness, and mercy.

His Justice: John 9:39 – ‘And Jesus said, "For judgment (justice) I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind."’

GOD’s justice is rendered judgment. Strong’s Concordance defines judgment this way: by implication justice (specifically divine law): [as the law gives] - accusation, condemnation, damnation, judgment.

GOD’s law accuses all guilty of sin, of breaking GOD’s law, and therefore justice demands payment.

Justice means giving each person what he or she deserves or, in more traditional terms, giving each person his or her due. As sinners, we deserved to be punished for doing GOD wrong. And this is where mercy comes in.

His Mercy: Luke 1:50 – ‘And His mercy is on those who fear Him From generation to generation.’ This verse is from Mary, the mother of Jesus, giving praise to GOD, often called ‘The Magnificat.’

Mercy here means compassion.

 Intro: Before describing GOD’s attributes of Goodness, Justice, and Mercy, let me share something with you. As I studied Tozer’s book The Knowledge of the Holy and spent time thinking about GOD’s greatness I came to realize my awareness of who GOD is has diminished through the years.

This low view of GOD led me to focus more on myself, my efforts, and my goals, all the while leaving GOD pretty much in the background. But now I’ve been revived in my daily life with GOD and it is wonderful to be back where I belong. So with this being said, let me strongly urge you to get a copy of Tozer’s book and read it, slowly. Take the time to think about GOD’s nature and I promise you a change will take place in your thought-life and this will lead to changes in almost everything else. And listen, peace comes with knowing GOD one-on-one.

This episode looks at GOD’s personality as it relates to His Goodness, Justice, and Mercy. As we study each of these, mercy will stand out all the more. For you see, GOD sent His Son Jesus to die for you and me as a direct result of His mercy.

Devotion focus: GOD’s Goodness ensures His Justice will prevail over evil, but we can find His Mercy and avoid His Just demands for punishment.

The question for us is how much mercy we want. GOD’s goodness is infinite and it leads Him to continue His love on our behalf. But what difference does it make today? And I mean this day you’re facing, right now.

Here is a fact from Tozer’s book in the chapter on GOD’s goodness. The reason and only reason GOD listens to our prayers is because He is good. To pray in the name of Jesus isn’t meritorious, but rather a condition of being heard.

So when we pray it helps to remember GOD is listening because He is good.

Listen to Romans 3:12b concerning the lack of good in the fallen human race:   ‘…THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, NO, NOT ONE." But wait, mercy is waiting for us, but something stands between us and GOD’s mercy.

What about GOD’s sense of justice? When you see on the news how someone got away with doing wrong, and I mean seriously wrong, how does it make you feel? What if someone hurt a loved one of yours and got off the charge against him or her because some lawyer found a technicality, a loophole in the law that allowed his client to go free?

As a police officer, I testified quite a bit in court. Before one such time, the criminal lawyer came up to me and said, “I know my client is guilty as sin, but what do you have on him?” Meaning what was the basis for my charges? I asked, “If you know he’s guilty, why aren’t you entering a plea?” He said because his client wanted to plead not guilty. So here was just one case among thousands every day across our nation where a lawyer wants to bypass justice.

To not punish sin, like not punishing for a crime, isn’t mercy, it’s a miscarriage of justice.

Listen to this carefully: GOD never sets aside justice. Because our sins must be punished, GOD sent His only Son, Jesus, to receive the death penalty justice requires for sinning. With justice satisfied, we have forgiveness available to us for the asking, in Jesus’s name.

And now, mercy for our purposes here points back to the cross as GOD’s reason for sending His Son to die in our place. I can now stand justified as innocent before GOD at the judgment seat.

But what about the fact GOD punished all sin for all time when Jesus took the wrath of His Father against sin upon Him? If sin has been punished why do people still go to hell? Because they choose the penalty over the pardon. The penalty for refusing what Jesus did for them on that cross.

For those of us who have received GOD forgiveness through the Cross, we have the goodness of GOD upholding us in this life and the assurance of eternal life when we die. And that brothers and sisters is mercy embodied.

Summary: GOD’s unchanging nature ensures He acts in goodness when he carries out justice and fulfills the requirements of mercy, all without violating any of His laws. His commands may be thought of as laws of GOD. And they are in place for our protection, the same as almost any nation has laws on the books to protect and bless the people of those nations.

Action to consider: If you will study the word judgment in the many verses throughout the Bible, you will come to appreciate all the more the mercy and goodness of GOD. To quote Tozer when talking about studying GOD, “Let me exhort you to take this seriously. It is not to be understood as mere Bible teaching to be stored away in the mind along with an inert mass of other doctrines.” If all we do is read or listen and forget, we will never experience the power of knowing GOD at the intimate level He wants.

Next week’s devotion: The Love of GOD