Joel M Bradshaw

10He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.–Psalm 103

Many people cherish these three verses. But as I pondered them this morning, three urban legends stood out.

1. THE COSMIC SCALE. Many picture the afterlife as determined by a scale. On one side are a person’s good deeds and on the other the bad. If the good outweigh the bad, so it is thought, a person gets to go to Heaven. But a scale in the ancient world as about transactions. A pound of grain needed to be weighed. The appropriate coins in payment needed to also be weighed. So scales were about fair and honest payment between a merchant and a customer. That’s what our psalm is telling us. If God acted that way, then we would NEVER be able to pay the price weighed against our bill. So thank God that he does not respond to our sins like that. We are grateful that the urban legend got it wrong. Otherwise, we’d have no hope.
2. UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. Many picture God as a doting mother or a kindly grandparent who will love that kid no matter where he goes or what he does. I’ve seen it in action. It’s hard to surpass a mother’s love. But is that what is communicated here? No. His steadfast love towards those who fear him. There is a condition. It is not unconditional towards everyone at all times. So if you have repented and turned from yourself and turned to God, you therefore fear him appropriately. You enter into a covenant relationship with him. And then his love is steadfast. Because the context of these three verses is sin. His steadfast love is shown in how he deals with our sins. God is not just removing sins from everyone, but from those who actually fear him.
3. IMPOTENT GOD. A geographer might argue that the east meets the west in two spots on the planet, which are a half a planet away from each other. The international date line and the prime meridian. David had no idea about those things. He was speaking poetically about an impossibly large distance that he could barely fathom. The urban legend might claim that God really can’t deal with sins. That what we do forever sticks to us in some way. That they aren’t really removed from us. The Hebrew is linked to the idea of “very far away.” Each of us still lives with the memories of our sins and some of the results our sins, but the psalm promises that God removes them from us. Again, David was speaking of those who feared God and were thus in a relationship with him. God is able to deal with our sins. He is not impotent. Sins may for a time stain our earthly relationships, but no longer between us and God.

The great blessings of Psalm 103 depend upon you fearing God. Upon you being in a covenant relationship with God. The promises regarding sin are now mediated through Jesus Christ. God who became flesh and addressed our mess and fully and finally dealt with our sins. He came to seek and save the lost. The hope proclaimed by David was realized in Jesus, the Son of David. Trusting in Jesus alone for your salvation is the only hope.–JMB