Text: Psalm 103:812

Topic: God's love for us takes into account our weaknesses.

Introduction

• Illustration: The pigs craze of the 1980s left a lot of "orphaned" porkers, unwanted by their owners. Dan Riffle came to the rescue, adopting the unwanted pigs on his 5 farm, which was virtually "hog heaven." How could anyone so love pigs? What's even more amazing: How could a holy, perfect God love sinful people like us?
• God not only loves us, he adopts us into his family and wants us to call him Father.

God's grace is described with four characteristics in Psalm 103:812.

• Verse 8: God has a long fuse.
• Verse 9: God has a short memory.
• Verse 10: God has thick skin.
• Verses 1112: God has a big heart.

Illustration: God's heart, like the distance between east and west, cannot be measured. On a globe, if you go north, you'll eventually reach the North Pole, and if you keep walking in a straight line, you'll start heading south. Eventually, north meets south. Not so east and west. If I go east around the globe, I never reach west.

Even as God's children, we don't always bask in his grace.

• God's compassion toward his children is much like ours to our own children.
• In Psalm 103, David describes our frailty—we are like dust and like grass.
• Doesn't God know how much you can take? Of course he does.

Illustration: At the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, in the 400 race, Derek Redman tore a hamstring on the backstretch and sprawled on the track. He struggled to his feet and began hopping toward the finish line. His father bounded out of the stands, embraced his son and said, "Come on, Son, let's finish this together."

• "The Lord has compassion on those who fear him" (Psalm 103:13)
• To fear God is to know and obey his Word; if you don't know it, you can't obey it.

Conclusion

• Obeying God is the path to experiencing his presence and love.