The Lord, Merciful and Gracious, Slow to Anger, and Abundant in Loving-Kindness and Truth (365) - August 29 2026

Exodus 34:6 - The Lord! the Lord! a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness and truth.

How important it is for us to not depend on our own understanding of God's nature unless that understanding has come from entering into a relationship with Him. Our carnal mind will always be wrong about God until it is renewed to the Truth about Him! (Romans 12:2). One of the ways is to see God's nature and character in action in His Word. In this program we look at the Father's heart in several situations and how His longsuffering continues with us to this day.

This program covers the following Scriptures from the Amplified Classic version (AMPC): John 17:3; Genesis 6:5-6; Isaiah 1:1-5; Isaiah 1:7; Isaiah 1:9-10; Isaiah 1:18-21; 1 Samuel 8:1-10; 1 Samuel 15:11 (this last scripture was not covered in the program due to time.)

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) And a very good day to you, this is Pastor Marc Whelan with Touch of God. Over the past few weeks we've been talking about God's grace, His mercy and His rest. How good God is, how amazing is His undeserved favor for us because of His love, because of His heart. This is His grace, undeserved favor. His mercy is our deserved punishment withheld and instead placed on His Son Jesus. For those who have received Jesus as their Lord, they are spared this final punishment. And today we rejoice because we don't deserve forgiveness from the Lord, but He forgives us. The Bible says if we confess sins, then He is faithful to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us in our conscience of all unrighteousness, 1 John 1, verse 9. And we've been covering this topic of His grace, His mercy, His rest, being able to be in His rest from a position of a son or daughter of the Most High God, knowing about His promises, His goodness, His nature and His character. We've been talking about this rest most recently because we have to be at peace. We have to enjoy what God has given us. We have to realize that we are in His rest to those who believe. We may not realize it, but if we rely on, trust Him and lean on the Lord, spend time with Him, spend time with His Word, we are blessed to be in His rest. And remember from last week's program, not all individuals on this earth are permitted to enter His rest. Only those who believe in Him, rely on, trust in and are obedient to His commands, to His statutes, which are to love the Lord thy God with your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as thyself, to go about doing good, heal all who are oppressed of the devil for God is with you, laying hands on the sick, seeing them recover, casting out demons, telling people about Jesus. But first and foremost, John chapter 17 verse 3 reminds us the purpose of our existence. It says, and this is eternal life. It means to know, to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with and understand you, the only true and real God, and likewise to know Him, Jesus, as the Christ, the anointed one, the Messiah, whom you have sent. We do not want to be told in that day by Jesus, depart from me, I never knew you. So it's important that we understand who we are in Christ, our position in Christ, the fact that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, because again of the grace of God, that we are seated in Him in heavenly places, far above all evil, because Jesus has won the victory and now so have you in Him. From that position, from that understanding, from also understanding God's goodness and that you can trust Him, that you understand His nature and His character, you can be in His rest, you can enjoy the fruits of His rest, being in a position of not having to strive any more for salvation. We cannot earn our salvation through striving. It is not by our own works, lest any man should boast, but it is by the grace of God, the free gift of eternal salvation, offered undeservedly to us by God and His grace. So while we are on this journey of getting to know the Father and the Son more and more, we go about doing good, healing all who are oppressed of the devil, for God is with us. You see, Jesus wants us to do as He did. He said we shall do the same works and greater, because He went to the Father. Now we have the Holy Spirit, we can walk in power, the power of God. But while we are doing these things, first and foremost, we must prioritize knowing Him, knowing God the Father and knowing His Son, Jesus. So it is important for us to understand the nature and the character of God and renew our minds to Him and His ways. Moses and others wanted to know His ways. I pray today that you would have a desire to know the Lord's ways, and we can obviously see these ways in the Bible as we see God's nature and His character. And Jesus exemplifies, He is a representation, an exact imprint of the nature of the Father. So if we are still not sure about the Father's nature after reading the Word, then what we do is we see Jesus. We look at what Jesus accomplished while He was on the earth, His nature, His character, and He represented His Father in His nature. We have a heavenly Father who loves us, who is holy, who is sovereign, who is just, who has wrath that He has placed upon His Son. For those who have confessed their sins, our sins are on His Son at the cross. And those who have yet to receive Jesus, those who never received Jesus, by the time they breathe their last breath, they shall receive the wrath of God, because they rejected the One whom loved them first. They shall receive the wrath of God. They will receive a just punishment, like we all should be receiving a just punishment anyway. We deserve hell, like we've spoken of before, because of the fall of man at the tree by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. But the Father is also forgiving, He's merciful, He's graceful. He doesn't have to be, but He is, because that's His nature, it's the kind intention of His heart. And so today I'm going to read through some examples of where we see the Father's nature, His forgiving heart, His heart to want to give people many, many other opportunities to correct their ways. He is long-suffering. He is the essence of long-suffering, because that is a fruit of the Spirit, and He is the Spirit. He is the origin of long-suffering. He is the origin of the different fruits of the Spirit, one of them being long-suffering. In Genesis chapter 6 verse 5 it says, The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination and intention of all human thinking was only evil continually. Verse 6, And the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved at heart. So this is the Lord that loves His creation, He wanted to create, He is the Creator, and yet He was grieved at heart. And you say, well, I know God is everywhere, He's all-powerful, He's all-knowing, how can His heart become grieved because He's so strong? But remember, we are created in His image, we are created with emotions, and so is He. He grieves just like we grieve, but He grieves, I'm sure, much more intensely, because His heart is huge. But the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, but God's grace and His forgiveness and mercy, His heart was one to not cancel His forward plans for creation. God did not want to end creation at that point. He didn't want to destroy everything, because His desire was to give us another chance. And without Noah, being a man after the Lord's heart, and being obedient to His commands, we may not be here today, because the Lord would have flooded the earth, and there would have been no ark, there would have been no more human species alive. So now we're going to see another example of the Lord's heart. Isaiah 1, verse 1, says the vision seen by spiritual perception of Isaiah, son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah, the kingdom, and Jerusalem, its capital, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Verse 2, Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. Now, this is Isaiah prophesying based on the Holy Spirit inspiring him and speaking these words to him for him to write. But now the Lord is about to speak through the Holy Spirit and through the recording and the writing of Isaiah. It says, Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken, and then it has a colon. So these next words are from the Lord directly. It says, I have nourished and brought up sons, and have made them great and exalted, but they have rebelled against me and broken away from me. Now let's pause for a moment. As you read this verse, as you hear this verse, place yourself before the Lord and say, Lord, am I doing these things that your children of Israel once did? Correct me. Help my heart, Lord. Lord, chastise me. As you love me, chastise me. It is commendable when we go before the Lord and ask him to chastise us because we are often afraid of being chastised by the Lord because we know how powerful he is, but he's not going to hurt us in the chastisement because the Bible says that he chastises those whom he loves. He will give us discipline. But do we not want that discipline to grow and to look more like Jesus and act and walk more like Jesus? We are supposed to grow up into the fullness and stature of Jesus. And so let's not delay this process. Let us be chastised by God in areas of our heart and our ways so that we can be corrected sooner so that we can experience the life that we are supposed to be carrying out upon this earth and be delivered from these things that might delay us and these faults that we have in our heart, any remaining wickedness that we want to try and stamp out. So where the Lord is saying here, they have rebelled against me and broken away from me. We simply pray to the Lord today, Lord, please point out anything that I need to confess to you where I have rebelled against you and broken away from you. Lord, let us not be broken from each other anymore. Let me come near to you, Lord, through your son, Jesus. I know I can come near to your throne. I can come boldly to your throne, in fact, and let us not be distant anymore. Lord, let me not be distant to you anymore. Let me draw nigh unto you, and you will draw nigh unto me. Verse 3, so the Lord's continuing in verse 3 to speak, and he says, The ox instinctively knows his owner, and the donkey his master's crib. But Israel does not know or recognize me as Lord. My people do not consider or understand. Now, this is a desire of the Lord for us today, that we would know and recognize him as Lord, to consider and understand him, to contemplate his ways, to dwell in the secret place, to dwell in the shadow of the Almighty, but to get to know him, to seek his ways, seek to understand his ways, seek to understand him, because that is so important for a species to know its creator. It is an endearing reflection of your heart towards him, that you would want to take time and desire to know the one who loves you, the one who created you, the one who sent his son, Jesus, to die for you, the one who provides the food on your table every day, the one that provides you health, the one that provides you a future, plans to prosper you, to give you hope and a future, and not to harm you, as it says in Jeremiah. Verse 4, now it appears in verse 4 that Isaiah is speaking, he says, Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, sons who deal corruptly, they have forsaken the Lord, they have despised and shown contempt and provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, they have become utterly estranged, alienated. So those who are not walking with the Lord today, those who are blaspheming him, those who don't know him, they are utterly estranged and alienated. You see, the travesty, the tragic situation in the Garden of Eden with the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that Adam and Eve went to eat against the Lord's command on that day, that they were deceived by the devil, Satan, through the form of the serpent, and they disobeyed God who warned them that in the day that they ate of the fruit of that tree, they shall surely die. That moment was what caused the human race, the human species to be utterly estranged and alienated from God. And God has never desired to be alienated from his creation. He wants to be with them. He wants to create you, and he wants you to be with him, to know him, and to walk with him in the call of the day, to walk with him in your life every single day, just acknowledging him, just enjoying his company as he enjoys yours, as you share intimate moments with him about how you feel, and not be afraid to confess sins to him, that he loves and cherishes you. He wants to know you. And you say, well, God knows everything. Yes, God knows everything. But remember, Jesus said, depart from me, I never knew you. So there is a relationship to be had here. There is something here where Jesus wants to know you, and he wants you to know him and his father. And we see this back in John chapter 17, verse 3, where John writes, this is eternal life, is to know God the Father and the Son, and not be alienated or utterly estranged from them. Verse 5, Why should you be stricken and punished any more, since it brings no correction? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint, feeble, sick, and nauseated. As we jump over to verse 7, it says, Because of your detestable disobedience, your country lies desolate, your cities are burned with fire, your land, strangers devour it in your very presence, and it is desolate as overthrown by aliens. Interesting here in verse 7, that Isaiah is still prophesying, he's still recording what the Holy Spirit is inspiring him to write from his heart as he hears from the Holy Spirit. And it says, strangers devour it, that's your land, strangers devour it in your very presence. This also could mean that the children of Israel could have gone to the Lord and say, Lord, we want our land to not be devoured. The Lord would have taken action, but the children of Israel just stood around and let their land become devoured by aliens in the land. They didn't care for their land. Remember in Genesis chapter 1, God told Adam and Eve to take dominion over the earth, over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, and every creeping thing that moves upon the earth. We see here that the children of Israel were disobeying that command, were not taking dominion over the cities that they were in. And so when you do not take dominion over your city, and from a spiritual perspective, when you don't decree and declare God's word, when you don't go out and pray for the sick, and you don't go out and tell people about Jesus, when you don't go out and decree and declare that there will be no drugs, no murders, no evil performed in your neighborhood or even on your street, then evil has the ability to just continue the status quo. Evil will continue in your neighborhood until you, as a child of God, speak to it and tell it to get out, and you subdue the earth as God told you in Genesis 1. We had the same mandate today that Adam and Eve had then, except now we do it through Christ because of the fall. But now we can do everything in Christ's authority, and Jesus wants us to use his name. He wants us to use our position in him to correct what is evil, to destroy the works of the enemy on the earth that is still going forward. As we jump to verse 9, it says, Except the Lord of hosts had left us a very small remnant of survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and we should have been like Gomorrah. Hear, O Jerusalem, the word of the Lord, you rulers or judges of another Sodom. Give ear to the law and the teaching of our God, you people of another Gomorrah. So this is a warning to us that we need to give ear to the Lord's word, his word, his scriptures, his holy scriptures that are alive and active and full of power. According to Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12, you can put God's word to flight off of the bookshelf where it was gathering dust. You can get that Bible off the bookshelf, open it up, read it, understand it, chew on it like a cow chews on cud, and speak God's word in confidence of who you are by his grace in Christ as a son or daughter of the most high God. Speak God's will over a situation. And you say, well, what is God's will over a situation? Well, what did Jesus do in this situation on the earth while he was here? Do the same as Jesus did. Jesus said we shall do the same works and greater. Here's another example of God's heart as we jump down further in Isaiah chapter 1 verse 18. God is speaking here and he says, Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool. Let's pause on this verse. You see here that the children of Israel are flip-flopping between idolizing these other images and other statues and committing sin and wickedness like Sodom and Gomorrah. And they are not walking with the Lord. They're not trusting in him, leaning on him, relying on him, obeying him, receiving his love, seeking his ways, seeking an understanding of his character and his nature. They have turned on him many times. But yet God is saying, come now and let us reason together. God is not a dictator. God, even though in his face we sin and we blaspheme him, he still says, Come now and let us reason together. He wants to sit down and talk this through. This is a father of understanding. This is a father who has immense love and patience and long-suffering for the fallenness of humanity. He wants us to reason with him, even though he has full sovereignty and right to say, You're wrong and not even listen to us. He wants to give us the ability to speak with him so that he can respond to our questions, concerns and accusations of him because he loves us and he understands that we need to be renewed in our minds. We've been told lies and inaccuracies and mistruths and misinformation over the years. And we have got this wrong understanding of him. We don't understand the Lord like we should. And he understands that we don't. So he says, let us reason together. Let's work this out. I love you. You committed sin against me in my eyes, but I love you and my grace, my undeserved favor for you, says that I want to give you another chance. He says, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool. He's saying, look at the state of your sin. It's like scarlet, red like crimson. He doesn't just say, but don't worry, it'll work out. He says that they shall be as white as snow. They shall be like wool. He is giving a promise. If they would just submit to him, if we would just submit to the Lord today, he can turn your sins and they can be white as snow and like wool. And his love wants to change that. His mercy, his grace wants to change that in us. Be cleansed by the Lord today. Just confess your sins. He wants you to sit down and reason with him. You may have misgivings about him. You may think that he has wronged you in life. He has only ever had good plans and purposes for you. But to engage in those amazing, wonderful plans to prosper you, to give you a hope and a future that he has for you, he has to have you submit to him instead of the things of the world. Instead of you idolizing things on your phone, he wants you to idolize him. Verse 19. If you are willing and obedient, the Lord says, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. And it says, however, the faithful city has become an idolatrous harlot. She who was full of justice. So now Isaiah, by the Holy Spirit, being influenced and inspired by him to write this. In verse 21, he's saying, how the faithful city has become an idolatrous harlot. She who was full of justice, uprightness and right standing with God, once lodged in her, but now murderers. You will see another example of the Lord's heart in 1 Samuel chapter 8, starting with verse 1. When Samuel was old, he made his sons judges over Israel. Verse 2. Now the name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second Abijah. They were judges in Beersheba. His sons did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after gain, took bribes and perverted justice. All the elders of Israel assembled and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint us a king to rule over us like all the other nations. So here the children of Israel, the elders came to him, came to Samuel and says, we want a king and we don't want God as king. Their heart was saying, we don't want the Lord as our king. We want someone else as our king. Verse 6. But it displeased Samuel when they said, give us a king to govern us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, hearken to the voice of the people in all they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them. Now, we know the rest of the story about how God assigns a soul as the king. But the point here is that the father was again rejected by his creation. And going all the way back to Genesis, he grieved that he had created man, but he never gave up. We see in Isaiah, he says, come and let us reason together. In Samuel, he says, they have rejected me. You begin to see that the Lord is long suffering. He has suffered with grief in his heart over people that would turn from him or never turn toward him. He loves you today. He loves you. And he says, come, let us reason together. Ask me your questions. I will give you your answers that you've been wanting. Do not assume anything. Come to me in the secret place and you will find me when you search for me with all of your heart. I love you. I cherish you. I created you for wonderful things and great plans I have for you in your life. Just seek me with all of your heart and you will find me today. So, to close, I would just say to you that our relationship is with God. It is not towards God. Samuel and God were close, similar to Moses and God. Samuel shared in the grief and regret with God about the situation with Saul. This is how tight and close we need to become with the Lord, that you share your experiences with him because he is living through them with you, experiencing them at the same second and minute that you are. Even though he knows how the situations will unfold, he experiences them the same way you do as they unfold in the natural, in your everyday life. Lord, we thank you for your message today. We bless your very holy name. The name that is above all names. And I thank you for your people here today listening. Lord, I thank you for touching their hearts today and helping them understand your nature and your ways. Lord, that you are so close to them. Lord, that you are ready and waiting for them to go into a deeper relationship with you, to seek you with all of their heart, not 90%, but 100% of their heart, mind and soul. We bless you today, Lord. We thank you for your fullness in people's lives to the degree that we submit to you and seek you with all of our heart. We will find you for you are a rewarder of those who diligently seek you in Jesus name. Amen. If you would like to get in touch with us, go to our website, tog.world. And until next week, you have a blessed week. Amen.