God’s Character – Psalm 145:8-14

A text – Psalm 145:8-14

⁸ The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
⁹ The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.

¹⁰ All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your faithful shall bless you.
¹¹ They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power,
¹² to make known to all people yourmighty deeds and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. The Lord is faithful in all his words and gracious in all his deeds.
¹⁴ The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.

A reflection:

This psalm describes the character of the Creator and Ruler of the universe. It shows gratitude for God’s mighty works, but it is especially interested in describing God’s personality, if you will. Look at the adjectives: gracious (giving whether the receiver deserves it or not), merciful (lenient when the receiver deserves severity), slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love (love that knows no end or measurement), good to all, compassionate for everything and everyone, faithful (dependable), upholding of the falling, and raising up the bowed down (lending God’s own power to those who have no power or who have been mistreated).

The gods of many ancient and even modern cultures are pretty well known to us, especially the Greek and Roman gods and even the Nordic and Far Eastern gods. The stories of those gods’ behaviors and character don’t sound like these descriptions. But Jesus, the Son of our God, described his heavenly Father’s character to be just like that described in this psalm. And Jesus himself behaved in these ways. If you read each adjective aloud, you can think of stories about Jesus that illustrate each character trait. Jesus was the human embodiment of the God described in Psalm 145. If we are followers of Jesus, it could be our aim to embody one or two of these character traits each day. What would it look like for me to try to be “slow to anger”? What about “upholding the falling”? How might I behave more like the God praised in this psalm? How might I even see the opportunities in my path to act this way and thus develop these character traits?

I will never be as good or mighty or splendid as our God. But if God shows me opportunities to behave as if I had even one of God’s character traits, I could live a bit closer to God’s kingdom coming near. Each of these traits, behaving in the real world, would help me co-create with God a trustworthy world, day after day. Which one will you choose to work on this week?

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for all the writers of the Psalms through the ages. Help us to see ways that we can reflect and shine the character of God into our world and give people a glimpse into your future. Help us to do that every day. Amen.