Who is a God Like You?

Finding hope in the incomparable character of God

“Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.” (Micah 7:18)

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The question Micah is pondering in this passage is: “What can we expect from God in the wake of sin?” That is, what can we expect from God after we have transgressed His law? After we’ve broken His commandments? After we’ve sinned against Him and treated Him with contempt? What can we expect to receive from God in such a state? Amazingly, the answer, upon the condition of repentance and contrition, is that we can expect to find compassion and forgiveness. 

Indeed, Micah says this very clearly: God will have compassion on His sinful people. He will pass over their transgression. He will pardon their iniquity. He will relinquish His anger and tread our iniquities underfoot — and not because our sins are light, fluffy inconveniences that can be set aside on a whim, but rather because God is utterly unique in His character. He is utterly unlike us or the capricious, petty gods of the nations, and thus He does not retain His anger forever or hold our sins over our heads. At the bottom of His glorious character, He delights in steadfast love.

This is the ultimate reason for our forgiveness. The true and living God delights in, takes pleasure in, showing mercy and grace and covenant faithfulness to wretched, undeserving sinners. As Micah puts it so wonderfully, “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of His inheritance? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in steadfast love” (v. 18). 

The implications of this verse ripple like the shockwaves of an atom bomb, but one stands out in particular. If the true and living God is in fact a God of incalculable mercy and goodness, then those who bear His name — and those who preach His gospel — ought to reflect that mercy with thankful, joyful lives. It does no good to adorn the gospel with sad or sullen faces, just as it does no good to attend a wedding with tears. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ means our sins have been forgiven. It means the world is being made new. It means that death and the grave have been gutted of their power and that Satan’s dominion has ended. In short, it means, as Samwise put it, that in the end every sad thing will come untrue, because of the infinite riches of kindness that dwell in the heart of the triune God. That is the message we proclaim to the world, and it is our sure and certain hope in Christ.

So whatever the future holds, let’s resolve to have less shrieking indignation and more cheerful composure. Let’s pray and ask the Lord to bring our temperaments into agreement with the gospel we profess. Yes, the insanity of the world has reached a fever pitch in recent years, but let’s not forget that the God who upholds the universe, and the God who sent His Son into the world to save sinners, is a God who delights in steadfast love. Ultimate reality, the bedrock beneath this whole terrestrial ball, is a faithful Creator who inclines toward mercy and kindness to sinners. 

And that, by any measure, is cause for great rejoicing.