Today's Scripture
Exodus 34:6–7
The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation.
As I read this passage, the phrase “abounding in steadfast love" challenges me. I think about how often I live as though love were scarce — something that is rationed, something that I have to earn, something that may run out one day. But God doesn't just love when it is easy; God is not occasionally merciful. Abounding, overflowing love. It challenges me to consider what it would change in me if I moved through my day believing love is abundant. How might I speak differently in conflict, or see a neighbor I struggle to understand?
I read the passage again, slowly. “Merciful and gracious… slow to anger… abounding in steadfast love.” I reflect on how “slow to anger” leans toward “steadfast love.” God doesn't deny that people sin and fall short. But God is a God of restorative justice. This tension, mercy and justice held together, reaches its fullness in Jesus Christ. At the cross, grace and justice meet, not as opposites, but as one unified expression of divine love.
Now, before you click away to your next email, hold the phrase that has claimed you — perhaps “steadfast love,” perhaps “slow to anger.” Breathe it in. Offer to God the places in your life where anger has been quick, or love has felt thin. Sit in silence before the One who is rich in mercy. Trust that even now, God is abounding toward you.
Prayer
Gracious and merciful God, you abound in steadfast love even when we fall short. Hold us in your covenant mercy. Where we have sinned, bring repentance. Where we are wounded, bring healing. Where we are unjust, bring transformation. May your grace shape our lives, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Written by Katie Patterson, Ministry Team Director
Reflection and prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church
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