In Exodus 34:6 God revealed Himself to Moses as El Rachum, or “The Lord, the Lord God merciful and gracious.” Then in Deuteronomy 4:31 Moses reveals God to Israel by the same name, El Rachum, which according to Strong’s means compassionate, and is also translated merciful. It is this characteristic of God that sets Him apart from the heathen gods that are viewed as angry and demand self inflicted punishment, sacrifice, and penance to appease their wrath. But our God, while being “angry with the wicked every day” Psalm 7:11, because of His mercy and compassion, imposed that anger and wrath upon “His only begotten Son” John 3:16, and when we accept His sacrificial free gift that appeases God’s wrath, He gives us “the right to become children of God” John 1:12! Peter puts it this way saying in his first epistle, 2:24, “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we having died to sins, might live for righteousness.” Then the apostle Paul really clinches this fact when he says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” 2 Corinthians 5:21. This is our El Rachum, the God full of mercy and compassion; Psalm 86:15 spells it out, “You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion and gracious.” And yes, He is within hearing distance to all that call upon Him as Psalm 145:18 assures us, “The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.” Jeremiah sums it up with four verses in Lamentations 3:21-24, “…Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not, they are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion says my soul, Therefore I hope in Him.” John 3:36 makes it crystal clear that the only way to escape God’s wrath is by believing in Jesus the one through whom His mercy and compassion is manifest, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
Our Jehovah God
Part twelve by Rose Hill
I have sorrow when I see the trouble you’re in,
I want to free you of every sin.
I suffered and bled – the work is done,
I am El Rachum the God of compassion.
I am that! That’s who I am!
Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version copyright …1982 by Thomas Nelson Co. used by permission.