Psalm 103:8 - Slow to anger

“The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” Psalms 103:8.

God’s people frequently test and always prove God’s patience. We suffer from the disease of chronic lethargy in spiritual matters. Our growth in godliness crawls along at such a sluggish rate that calling it a snails pace could be considered an insult to snails. But God is merciful to us. He doesn’t respond to our slowness in anger, but by being quick to impart grace. God’s anger is the only thing in the universe slower than my heart’s change. His faithful and steadfast love preserves me even when I hypocritically insist on instant change from other people not required of myself. God is content to do long-term work on my heart, launching character renovation and overhaul projects scheduled to take decades to complete. His patience cannot be outlasted by my stubbornness. As amazing as God’s patience is, what makes it truly remarkable is that he did not respond to his own perfect Son the same way. God's patient slowness to anger that I take for granted every day was conspicuously absent at Calvary. The anger poured out on Christ while he was on the cross was anything but slow; it was fast, furious and relentless, unceasing until every sin placed upon Christ had been fully atoned for. Jesus Christ was the only person to not sin, and yet he was punished for sin so that God’s anger toward sinners is slow, and his love for them is steadfast.