Many Christians are afraid of the Old Testament and the God of the Old Testament. The general perception is, he was a God of wrath, and unlike the Saviour Jesus Christ, he at times appears merciless.
But when you decide to give the Old Testament and the “Old Testament God” a chance, you will discover how merciful and compassionate God has and has always been…yesterday, today and FOREVER.
One of my favourite characters in the Bible is King David. A man after God’s own heart, but still a man. A man who commits horrendous sins that has devastating consequences. The most renowned of these sins is his affair with Bathsheba, which leads to the murder of her husband and the death of her and David’s first child.
I can relate to David an awful lot, one of the reasons is because of my sins both past and present, and for the ones I will commit tomorrow. I don’t know about you, but I struggle on a daily basis. I try really, really hard each day to not, but the truth is it is inevitable that I do…it is my “flesh” nature. However, what I really love about David’s story is his relationship with the “God of the Old Testament”. Their relationship reminds me, more than most stories of the Bible, just how merciful and compassionate our God really is.
Psalm 51, is a psalm of David, which he wrote after the prophet Nathan was sent by God to convict David of his affair:
Psalm 51:1-4
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
David opens this Psalm by describing the character of God, through declaring his unfailing love, his great compassion, and the way how God blots out our repented sin and reminds us no more… for it is FORGOTTEN. In verse two, God washes away David’s iniquity and cleanses him, which according to verse 7 his cleansing makes David whiter than snow, just as Christ’s blood does the same for us. If you want to know if God really does this for David, then read further into how David’s life turns out, and you will discover how God blesses David and Bathsheba with another child. This child becomes the wisest and richest King to have ever lived, his name is King Solomon.
This is just one example from the Old Testament of an ever loving, ever compassionate Amazing God, whose grace has never changed nor failed. The only difference between the Old and New Testament God is not God himself, but the sacrifice. Jesus was the last sacrifice, the only sin sacrifice that was pleasing to God to be a forever pardon for our sins.
For as David states in Psalm 51 vs 16:
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
But the next verse that follows this statement is the beauty of God’s love and grace, for the only pleasing sacrifice we can give to him is:
17 {…} a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.
I want to finish by thanking God for loving me in my brokenness and for giving me his beautiful son Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for my sins. I want to thank God for being the same today as you was yesterday and as you will be tomorrow. For nothing will snatch me from your hands, I am made whiter than snow through Christs sacrifice, your mercy is everlasting and your love is unfailing.
I ask as David asks in Psalm 51, that you:
10
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13
Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
so that sinners will turn back to you.
Amen.