What God Remembers That We Forget Psalm 103 : 6 - 18 Listen to this sermon “ He remembers that we are dust ” ( Psalm 103 : 14 ) . Have you wondered what God really thinks about you ? Our greatest barrier to knowing God better may be how much we know about how much God knows about us . We struggle with God because we feel so bad about ourselves , and if we know the truth about ourselves , think of how much more God knows us ! We can ’ t fool him . Sometimes we don ’ t want to pray or read the Bible or think about God because when we look in the mirror , we feel like saying , “ You ’ re a big disappointment ” or “ You ought to be a lot better by now . ” We ’ ve all felt that way from time to time , and I imagine that many people reading these words feel that way right now . It ’ s been a hard week , or a bad month , and now we ’ re near the end of what seems like a wasted year . Sam Storms captures the truth in one simple sentence : I think we run from God rather than to him because we know our own hearts all too well and his barely at all . I probably don ’ t need to spend any time convincing you that you are a sinner . You probably know the truth about yourself all too well . But it ’ s the other side that we need to talk about . We don ’ t know God ’ s heart very well . You probably know the truth about yourself all too well . That ’ s where Psalm 103 can help us tremendously . Perhaps no other chapter in the Bible so clearly reveals God ’ s compassion for his people . If you ’ re wondering what God thinks about you , let ’ s take a journey through Psalm 103 and discover seven liberating truths about God ’ s heart . 1 . He Loves to Help the Needy . “ The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed . He made known his ways to Moses , his deeds to the people of Israel ” ( vv . 6 - 7 ) . The “ oppressed ” are those who can ’ t help themselves . In the Old Testament the word especially referred to widows , orphans , foreigners , and the poor . When we are tempted to take advantage of others because we are strong and they are weak , God says , “ Think about that first . ” He takes the side of the weak . Our God keeps his eyes on the helpless , and when others hurt them , he moves to balance the scales of justice . In the words of Martin Luther King , Jr . , “ The arm of the universe is long but it bends toward justice . ” There are days and times when this is hard to believe , especially in light of events like the terrorist bombing in Mumbai . But this truth stands like a solid rock for the believer . If all of history is a book , we haven ’ t reached the final chapter yet . We ’ re somewhere near the end , but we ’ re not sure how far away we are . But we know this much . Eventually God will bring everything to light , and he will judge with impartiality . In that day there will be no hiding , no excuse - making , no bribes , and no way of escape . Eventually God will bring everything to light , and he will judge with impartiality . All those who labor for a better world and a more just society and those who stretch out a helping hand – you have to believe this or you can ’ t go on . The words of James Russell Lowell come to mind : Truth forever on the scaffold , Wrong forever on the throne , - Yet that scaffold sways the future , and , behind the dim unknown , Standeth God within the shadow , keeping watch above his own . Are you needy ? The answer is yes whether you know it or not . You are needy and God is on your side . That ’ s a great place to start . 2 . He Shows Mercy to Those Who Don ’ t Deserve It . “ The Lord is compassionate and gracious , slow to anger , abounding in love ” ( v . 8 ) . See the four great attributes of God in this verse : 1 ) The Lord is compassionate - He pardons us . 2 ) The Lord is gracious - He gives us what we don ’ t deserve . 3 ) The Lord is slow to anger - He is patient with us when we fall . 4 ) The Lord abounds in love - He loves us more than we can imagine . There ’ s no fishing like fishing in the sea . There ’ s no eating like eating at the king ’ s table . There ’ s no love like God ’ s love . When he saves , he saves completely . When he forgives , he forgives all my sins . When he sets free , we are free forever . The King James Version translates the last phrase of verse 8 by saying that God is “ plenteous in mercy . ” Spurgeon ( in The Treasury of David ) takes that phrase and offers this application ( italics added ) : All the world tastes of his sparing mercy , those who hear the gospel partake of his inviting mercy , the saints live by his saving mercy , are preserved by his upholding mercy , are cheered by his consoling mercy , andwill enter heaven through his infinite and everlasting mercy . I like that ! Six kinds of mercy in just one sentence . That ’ s plenteous mercy for anyone who needs it . 3 . He Tempers His Wrath . “ He will not always accuse , nor will he harbor his anger forever . He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities ” ( vv . 9 - 10 ) . Have you ever known anyone who loved to argue ? We all know people who love to keep a quarrel going because they are so angry . God is not like that . He is willing to end the quarrel and welcome us back home . Sometimes the real problem is that we want to keep fighting him . He ’ s more ready to forgive than we are to be forgiven ! When we forget to pray , he remembers to feed us . When we forge to give thanks , he sends us restful sleep . When we idle in sin , he sends his Holy Spirit to convict us . When we refuse to give , he keeps on giving still . When we fall , he lifts us up . When we disappoint ourselves and others , he still calls us his children . God even blesses those who don ’ t believe in him . He even blesses those who don ’ t believe in him . An unbeliever like Christopher Hitchens writes a book called “ God Is Not Great : How Religion Poisons Everything , ” and sells a boatload of copies , along the way merrily debating every religious - type person he can find . He is clever , witty , a gifted wordsmith , widely read , quick with a comeback , and completely committed to debunking religion of every type and even more committed to the concept that God is simply not necessary . But see the mercy of God . Instead of crushing him like an empty eggshell , the Lord feed him and nourishes him and gives him health and love and life . It is the longsuffering of God that allows Christopher Hitchens to deny him . And why would God show such kindness to someone utterly dedicated to eradicating his influence in the world ? Because if there is a God at all , he is not in the least intimidated by Christopher Hitchens or Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris . If you think of them as part of the atheist artillery , they shoot at God on ground he provides from them . And the fact that God withholds punishment to his enemies , that too is evidence of his mercy for “ God ’ s kindness leads you toward repentance ” ( Romans 2 : 4 ) . 4 . He Forgives All Our Sins . “ For as high as the heavens are above the earth , so great is his love for those who fear him ; as far as the east is from the west , so far has he removed our transgressions from us ” ( vv . 11 - 12 ) . Consider the greatness of God ’ s love . Astronomers tell us that the farthest known light source from the earth is ten billion light years away . That means that light starting from that source ( a quasar ) would take ten billion years traveling at the speed to light to arrive at the earth . By contrast the nearest star is “ only ” four light years away from us . That ’ s four years traveling at the speed of light , which is 186 , 000 miles per second . Light from the sun reaches the earth in a little over eight minutes . So even the nearest star is a vast distance from the earth . And using ion drive propulsion , you could reach the nearest star in a modern spaceship in “ only ” 81 , 000 years . You can turn it around any way you like and we are left with two inescapable realities . First , we live in a tiny corner of the universe , and second , the universe is vast beyond our comprehension . But God ’ s love is greater , vaster , larger , deeper , longer , broader , and bigger in all dimensions that the universe itself . Get in a rocket equipped with any sort of sci - fi system you can imagine . Fly at warp speed if you like . Go as far as you can go , to the end of the known universe and beyond . And when you have gone as far as you can go , look up and smile because God ’ s love is still going . You will never reach the end of it . Consider the magnitude of God ’ s love . Let ’ s suppose you want to go east until you finally reach the west . So you take off from Baltimore in a hot air balloon . When you land in Lisbon , you get in a Honda Civic and drive across Europe until you come to Varna , Bulgaria . There you hop on a freighter than takes you through the Black Sea , the Aegean Sea , the Mediterranean Sea , the Suez Canal , the Red Sea , and on to the Gulf of Aden where you narrowly escape getting caught by the pirates , and on into the Indian Ocean where you finally put ashore in Colombo , Sri Lanka . From there you catch a flight to Singapore and then down south to Perth , Australia . There you hitchhike across the Outback , eventually arriving in Sydney where you join a passenger ship heading for Easter Island . You then fly to Santiago , Chile where you rent a beat - up Jeep and start driving north . It ’ s a long way but you eventually make it all the way to Nome , Alaska where you hire a dogsled team so that you can run the Iditarod Race in reverse , ending up in Anchorage so you hop on a cruise ship to Vancouver , BC , where you take the Trans - Canada Railway , ending up in Halifax , Nova Scotia . And there you buy a high - end road bike and start peddling through New Brunswick , Maine , Vermont , New Hampshire , Massachusetts , Rhode Island , New York , New Jersey and Delaware . Finally you make it back to Baltimore . Besides having circumnavigated the globe , what have you proved ? Among other things , you have proved that no matter how far east you go , you will never find the west . My sins can never come back to haunt me again . Never the twain shall meet . The farther east you go , the farther you are from the west . That ’ s the magnitude of God ’ s love . Here is great good news for all the sinners of the world . When God forgives , he removes our sins , he lifts them up , he takes them away , and he puts them so far away from us that we could never find them if we searched for them for a thousand years . They are gone forever . My sins can never come back to haunt me again . Even Satan can ’ t bring them back . In his sermon on these verses Jim Nicodem says that God has . . . A long fuse - “ slow to anger ” ( v . 8 ) , A short memory -" does not harbor his anger forever ” ( v . 9 ) , A thick skin -" does not treat us as our sins deserve ” ( v . 10 ) , andA great heart -" so great is his love , so far has he removed our sins ” ( vv . 11 - 12 ) . I ’ m glad we have a God like that because that exactly the kind of God we need . 5 . He Understands Our Weakness . “ As a father has compassion on his children , so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him ” ( v . 13 ) . I never understood that verse until I had children . When our boys were very young and would have trouble going to sleep , and when Marlene was tired and needed to sleep herself , I would carry the boys in my arms . Sometimes I would sing to them , sometimes ( often ) I would make up a song . I remember when Joshua was very young , I would sing Scripture verses to him , such as “ The wicked they flee when no man pursues , but the righteous are bold as a lion ” ( see Proverbs 28 : 1 ) . I would sing it over and over again until he finally fell asleep in my arms . I just made the tune up , but as I typed the words , the tune came back to me as if I had last sung it yesterday and not 25 years ago . When an earthly father has done his job well , he makes it easy for his children to believe in their Heavenly Father . Earthly fathers - however imperfect - point us upward to our Heavenly Father . When an earthly father has done his job well , he makes it easy for his children to believe in their Heavenly Father . Our children learn that we do not worship a god of stone or an empty idol or a remote deity or an impersonal machine in the sky . We serve a Father God who knows our weakness and loves us anyway . When our son Mark was a young child , he developed a persistent ear infection that would not go away . After trying antibiotics for a time , our family physician told us we needed to see a specialist so he referred us to Dr . Culbertson , a highly respected specialist in Dallas . After examining him carefully , he announced that Mark needed to have tubes put in his ears to prevent further scarring from the infection . Even though the operation is quick and fairly simple , the doctor could see that Mark was scared . So he picked him up and carried him piggy - back to surgery . That was the last image we saw - the great physician carrying our son on his back so he wouldn ’ t be afraid . So it is with our Heavenly Father . The Great Physician knows our weakness and understands our fears . And when we can ’ t go on , he carries us on his back . 6 . He Remembers That We Are Dust . “ For he knows how we are formed , he remembers that we are dust . As for man , his days are like grass , he flourishes like a flower of the field ; the wind blows over it and it is gone , and its place remembers it no more ” ( vv . 14 - 16 ) . Here is a truth we all understand , especially in this season of the year . Yesterday ’ s green leaves soon turn brown . It is an inexorable law of nature that the green leaves of spring end up in a pile on your lawn . In October Marlene and I spent a few days on Prince Edward Island , home of the famous “ Anne of Green Gables ” books . We happened to be there near the peak of the fall foliage season so as we traveled the narrow country roads , we saw leaves in every hue imaginable - scarlet , orange , pink , bright red , russet , maroon , bronze , yellow , purple , and every possible shade of brown . We especially noticed it in the evening , when the low angle of the sun seemed to backlight the entire forest and set it ablaze in a kaleidoscope of color . Why do the leaves lose their green ? There is a scientific explanation having to do with the loss of green chlorophyll , but that simply means the leaves are slowly dying . Their beauty comes from their death . Who remembers each leaf ? Not the tree . one by one the leaves fall to the ground where they disintegrate and return to the soil from which they came . No one names them or numbers them or even thinks about them . And by now on Prince Edward Island most of the leaves are gone from the trees . It is the way of nature , the way God arranged the changing of the seasons . Twenty years ago Marlene would sometimes tease me by saying , “ There ’ s a little gray in your beard . ” She stopped that a long time ago because the little has become a lot . Just this morning I realized that I hadn ’ t shaved in two days . And when I looked in the mirror I saw little bits of gray stubble all over my face . I think if I let my beard grow , it would be mostly gray . When God puts gray in your beard , it ’ s like the leaves turning brown in the fall . It ’ s God ’ s way of saying , “ You won ’ t be here forever . ” Every now and then I ’ ll run across a bit of cemetery humor that makes me chuckle . I was driving down a major thoroughfare in Chicago next to one of those cemeteries that seems to go on forever . Because it is a long stretch of road with no stop lights , people tend to break the speed limit routinely . So I laughed when I saw a billboard sponsored by the cemetery that said , “ Slow Down . We ’ ll save a place for you . ” I ’ m sure they will . If that ’ s all there is , if we are here today and gone tomorrow , if that ’ s the end of the story , then there isn ’ t much hope . But let me share something with you . If you don ’ t have anything else to be thankful for this year , here ’ s something you can hang your hat on . Our hope is not in man or in anything man can do . Our hope is in the everlasting God ! 7 . He Links Us With Eternity By Linking Us With Himself . “ But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord ’ s love is with those who fear him , and his righteousness with their children ’ s children - with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts ” ( vv . 17 - 18 ) . Our hope is in the everlasting God ! There is nothing we can do about our frailty . We come from the hand of our Creator stamped , “ Fragile : Handle with care . ” We are like the dust devils that blow across the desert . We make a big scene and then suddenly we disappear . Try as we might , we can ’ t cancel our humanity . Nothing can change what we are . Vitamins and exercise and clean living may slow down the process . Positive thinking may improve our mood . But for all of us , the end is the same : Ashes to ashes , Dust to dust . Psalm 103 offers us one strong ground of comfort that lifts us up above the transitory nature of this life . It is the “ but ” of verse 17 , the blessed “ but ” that changes everything . That one word offers an eternal contrast between The fading flower and the everlasting God , Our mortality and God ’ s eternity . That one word - that little “ but "- stands at the demarcation between this life and the next . Here is our real hope of life that never ends . God ’ s tender mercy . His unfailing love . His abounding grace . Someone has said that life without Christ is a hopeless end , but life with Christ is an endless hope . And this endless hope is not only to us but to our children ’ s children . What will we leave our children ? A vast estate ? A large inheritance ? A huge life insurance policy ? Whatever we may say about earthly possessions , they pale next to the privilege of passing down a godly heritage , a tapestry of truth , and a pattern of believing that our children and grandchildren can claim as their own . We are richer than we think , we are more blessed than we know , and we have more than we realize . In a transient and passing world where everything fades away , we have the promise that we are linked to the future even after we are gone by the faithfulness of God to our children to our children ’ s children . This , too , is the mercy of God . Take Me to the Cross What is Psalm 103 telling us ? We are richer than we think , we are more blessed than we know , and we have more than we realize . We frail , mortal sinners are rich in the mercy of God . And we have found that mercy – or rather , that mercy has found us - i - n the cross of Jesus Christ . During one of his sermons Billy Graham told the story of a patrolman on night duty in a town in northern England . As he walked the streets , he heard a quivering sob . Shining his flashlight into the darkness , he saw a little boy in the shadows sitting on a doorstep and tears were running down his cheek . The child said , “ I ’ m lost . Please take me home . ” And the policeman began naming street after street , trying to help the boy remember where he lived . He named the shops and the hotels in the area but the little boy could give him no clue . Then he remembered that at the center of the town there was a church with a large white cross that towered above the rest of the city . The policeman pointed to the cross and said , “ Do you live anywhere near that place ? ” The little boy ’ s face immediately brightened up . He said , “ Yes , sir . Take me to the cross and I can find my way home . ” Go to the cross and you will find your way home to God . All that we believe , all that we have , all that we hope for is found in the cross of Christ . Go to the cross and you will find your way home to God . Are you weak ? So am I . Are you needy ? So am I . Are you guilty ? So am I . Are you frail ? So am I . Are you like dust ? So am I . And God says to us , his weak , needy , guilty , frail , dusty children , “ I know you through and through , and I love you anyway . Come to me . Rest in me . Make me your Rock . ” God ’ s mercy in Christ is more than enough for all of us . Amen .