God's Mercy, Grace, & Patience

“The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.’” (Exodus 34:6–7, ESV)

(This post is one in a series on the Attributes of God. Click here to see more posts in this series.) 

God’s Goodness

Moses made a bold request to God. He said, “Please show me your glory.” (Exodus 33:18, ESV). God replied to this request saying, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’…But you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” (Exodus 33:19–20, ESV).  

On the one hand, God tells Moses, “You can’t handle seeing my glory. It would kill you.” On the other hand, God meets Moses halfway. He will show Moses ALL of His goodness and will proclaim his name before Moses. 

Mercy, Grace, and Patience

When God brings his goodness before Moses, how does he describe that goodness? He says, “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands” (Exodus 34:6). This is the fulness of God’s goodness. When ALL of God’s goodness passes before Moses, we’re shown mercy, grace, and patience. Each attribute describes God’s goodness applied in a different circumstance. 

God’s Mercy

This is why Herman Bavinck defines God’s mercy as “The goodness of God, when shown to those in misery” (Reformed Dogmatics, 2.213). This is why the Psalmist cries out, “Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cry to you for help, when I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary.” (Psalm 28:2, ESV). We also see many sick and wounded crying out to Jesus, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” (Matthew 20:31, ESV). Thankfully, in our own misery and distress, we can have confidence that our God is “rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,” (Ephesians 2:4, ESV). 

God’s Grace

In defining God’s grace, Herman Bavinck says, “God’s goodness is much more glorious when it is shown to those who only deserve evil. It then bears the name grace” (Reformed Dogmatics, 2.214). A basic definition of grace is “undeserved favor.” When God’s people have fallen away because of their sinfulness, they are reminded of God’s grace: “For if you return to the LORD, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious” (2 Chronicles 30:9, ESV). If they repent and turn to God, they will not get what they deserve, but will receive God’s undeserved favor—His grace. We also see this in the New Testament when the Apostle Paul says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” (Ephesians 2:8, ESV). We cannot earn God’s salvation. If we earned it, we would deserve it. If we deserved it, then it would no longer be grace. Rather, we can only accept this undeserved gift of God by faith. Then we can praise Him as “the God of all grace” (1 Peter 5:10, ESV).  

God’s Patience

Wayne Grudem defines God’s Patience as “God’s goodness in withholding of punishment toward those who sin over a period of time” (Systematic Theology, p. 200). We see this attribute of God throughout all of scripture. If God wasn’t patient, every sinner would be dead because “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). But we’re still alive. Why? Because God is patient. He is “a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Nehemiah 9:17, ESV). In the New Testament we’re told that God’s patience is meant to lead us to repentance: “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4, ESV). 

Our Mercy, Grace, and Patience

Because God has created us in His image, we have been created to show mercy, grace, and patience as we live in this world. This is why Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful…” (Matthew 5:7, ESV). This is why the relief offering taken by the church in Corinth was called “an act of grace” and they were urged to “excel in this act of grace.” (2 Corinthians 8:7, ESV). It’s also why the fruit of the Holy Spirit contains “…patience…” (Galatians 5:22, ESV). 

All of this is an important reminder. We are not expected to be merciful, gracious, and patient for no apparent reason. We were created by a merciful, gracious, and patient God who created us in His image and continues to patiently pour out mercy and grace on us every day. The only reason we struggle with showing mercy, grace, and patience is because of our own sin. But thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ we have been forgiven and are being transformed into His image once again. Because of the work of Jesus Christ, we can finally grow in our ability to patiently show grace and mercy to those around us.