Today’s Passage: Micah 7:18-20
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. — Micah 7:18
“Who is a God like You?” is a question that should cause you to think about God. The remaining part of verse 18 is a beautiful exclamation of the unchanging character of God, who is able to pardon sin and pass over transgression like it no longer exists! That truth causes me to worship and praise God for Who He is and what He has done through Jesus!
God promises that He will remove our sin from His sight because He delights in steadfast love. The idea behind this is that God not only practices steadfast love, but God is steadfast love. He loves us in this way not because He is required to, or because He wants to, but it is out of faithfulness to His own promise to do so no matter what. Steadfast love is the kind of love that led Him to the cross on our behalf, and the kind of love that remains faithful to us today. It is the covenant promise God made to Jacob and Abraham (verse 20) that is only valid because it is a promise based on His own character and faithfulness to keep His promises.
Verse 19 points us to how God is going to act on that steadfast love. Micah states that God will have compassion on us, and He will trample over sin and cast it into the depths of the sea. God will deal with our sin completely! All of this is pointing forward to the future ruler of Israel who would come from Bethlehem that Micah speaks of in chapter 5. Today, we know this ruler to be Jesus; who humbled Himself in obedience to the Father and was born as a baby in Bethlehem. God shows us his faithfulness and steadfast love by sending Jesus to live among us, to have compassion on the lost and broken-hearted, and to give His life up for the forgiveness of our sins.
Despite everything that we have previously done against God, He is going to show us compassion and forgive us of our sins. Sometimes I just can’t wrap my head around that incredible truth! Only an amazing and gracious Father like our God would ever consider doing something like that!
Prayer
Father, words cannot describe how great You are! Help us to love and forgive like You do as we gaze at your beauty. In Jesus’s name, amen.