for the week of Sept 13, 2026

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. -Psalm 103:8

When Moses asks God to show His glory, God hides Moses from seeing His fullness and Moses only gets a glimpse. The encounter is enough to change Moses forever. Yet in the middle of this exciting interaction, God proclaims a statement about Himself: The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love (cf. Ex. 34:5-7). The statement in Exodus is echoed in several places throughout the Bible’s story.

In Joel, the prophet sees a plague of locusts coming against God’s people in Judah to destroy the crops and cause desolation to the Hebrew homeland. It may be the imagery refers to hostile peoples coming to destroy. In the first chapter, Joel says the following verbs to the inhabitants of Judah facing this judgement: weep, wail, grieve, be ashamed. You won’t find too many artworks at Christian bookstores with that kind of language in pretty cursive on decorative shiplap.

Yet the prophet Joel continues further in chapter two: “Tear your hearts, not just your clothes, and return to the Lord your God. For he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and he relents from sending disaster” (Joel 2:13).

It’s almost as if Joel is saying the anguish we feel in judgement must extend beyond our own losses. We must come to recognize our needs. We must realize we need God’s saving grace. We come to that realization when we remember God’s Self-disclosure.

In Moses’ day, this Divine Self-disclosure takes place after the golden calf incident. In Joel’s day, the reminder of God’s attributes are given after the judgement of the idolatrous and violent actions of God’s people are announced in form of the plague. The structure is similar: God’s people foul up; judgement is pronounced against them and they are called to return; God reminds His people that when they turn to Him, He awaits in abounding love. Isn’t it good that our God reminds us of His compassionate grace, slow anger, and abounding love when we need it most?

In Psalm 103, the psalmist expresses the application point as the first verse of the song: Praise the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me! (Ps. 103:1, paraphrase). When you and I live according to God’s attributes He discloses to us, our job is to live in worshipful witness so others may see a glimpse of the God who abounds in lovingkindness.

May it be so with us,

Matt