Again and again they tested God’s patience and provoked the Holy One of Israel. Psalm 78:41
“God doth not take it well to be limited by us in anything, least of all in His grace. This He calls a tempting of Him (Ps. lxxviii. 41), a provoking temptation. This He could not bear with. If there be any pardon with God, it is such as becomes Him to give. When He pardons, He will abundantly pardon. Go with your half-forgiveness, limited, conditional pardons, with reserves and limitations, to the sons of men. It may be, it may become them; it is like themselves. That of God is absolute and perfect, before which our sins are as a cloud before the east wind and the rising sun.”
John Owen in “The Generosity of God” in The Golden Book of John Owen: Passages from the Writings of the Rev. John Owen, edited by James Moffatt (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1904) 124.
Throughout Psalm 78 we see God’s people fail to follow His ways, and yet, God’s mercy and grace abound. Today, He wants us to learn from this and follow His ways. As Owen put it: “It becomes Him to give.” He desires this for us too.
Our generosity is merely human generosity when we half-forgive, half-pardon, measure things with conditions, reserves and limitations. Thankfully, God did not use such measures toward us. To exhibit Christian generosity means that we abundantly pardon, we abundantly forgive, and we use no reserves or limitations in extending grace toward others. Possible? Only with God! Rather than provoke God today, let us pardon like Him. Rather than test His patience, let’s imitate it with His help.
Father in Heaven, may our generosity toward others not be measured by human standards but by the abundant standard you used with each of us. In your mercy, hear our prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.