The LORD IS...

Psalms 145:8-9 (NIV)
8 The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.
9 The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.

It is always encouraging to read psalms like this of David proclaiming who his God was.  David had no doubt who his Lord was - He was gracious, compassionate, good to all and had compassion.  This, I'm sure, encourages us, and gives us strength day by day.  But this truth, though easy to proclaim during the "good" times, is surely tested when we go through the storms of life.

How can God be gracious during a time of financial crisis, when any time our home may be foreclosed by the bank, or our creditor may file a case against us!  How compassionate is God when a loved one of ours is sick, and healing seems far away?  How can the Lord be good when bad things are happening.

Just like the rest of us there are times when I find myself in situations like those above.  I remember in one of those moments, coming to God in prayer, pleading to Him - "Lord, please be gracious", "please show your compassion", "be merciful O God" - these were some of the prayers I was crying out to God, hoping that He would bring His answer (or was it my answer I was looking for).

Then, a sudden enlightenment came to my heart.  If my prayer says "Lord please be gracious", then that means at that moment I believed that the Lord was not being gracious.  By saying "Lord please be merciful" that meant that He, at that time, was withholding His mercy.  Is this the case?  Is this what God reveals to us in His word?

David proclaimed "The Lord IS gracious and compassionate".  This was not a proclamation just based on a situation, but a truth being taught to us.  God IS gracious.  God IS compassionate.  God IS good.  The circumstances we are going through do not change who our God is.  It is not like God is gracious at one moment, and then at the next He is not.  It's not that God is merciful in certain situations, and in some He is not.  God IS who He is.  He does not change.
James 1:17 (NIV)
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

And so, as lead by the Spirit, my prayer changed.  "Lord", I started saying, "You are gracious, You are merciful, You are compassionate".  And in the circumstance that I was going through I was asking God to open my eyes that I may see who He is, and not focus on what I was going through.

How important it is for us to believe that Our LORD IS..., that He never changes, that He is faithful.  May God reveal who He is always through the circumstance we are going through.