His Delight

I was reading in Jeremiah this morning when I came across this beautiful passage:

“Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the LORD.”

Jeremiah 9:23-24 NKJV

I am always blown away by the character of God especially in comparison to the character of man. The Lord knows our tendency to love wisdom, power, strength and money but He says glory in knowing Me! Can you imagine what the world would look like if we were all aspiring to know God more.  

The verse says that He is exercising Loving Kindness. That word in Hebrew means favor and mercy. The Lord, regardless of our sinful nature, has a nature to love us and to show us favor. He says He is exercising loving kindness, judgement and righteousness, but also that He delights in them! How lucky we are to have a God who in His supreme character has a heart to love us and has a nature is to bring righteousness and justness to this world.

It may be easy at times to misunderstand the heart of God but this passage reveals that He is Just, He is Righteous and He delights in giving us His loving kindness. He desires you to seek Him, to glory in Him. He wants us to know Him and love Him more. Get to know the Lord and you will see that His character is beautiful, it is love and it is so good!

Unlimited forgiveness!

Peter was asking Jesus how many times he should forgive a brother who sins against him, 7 times? That actually was a generous offer considering that some rabbis required their students to forgive only 3 times! I think Jesus probably blew their mind with His answer: "I do not say to you, up to 7 times, but up to 70 times 7." 

Jesus teaches that we can not put a limit on forgiveness when someone is truly trying to repent. There is no magic number where we can stop forgiving. You may wonder why that is because it's certainly not always easy to have someone hurt you or sin against you and then forgive them but that is what God does for us! 

Ponder this parable from Matthew 18:22-35

“Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses"