The Gentleness of God

‘…you stoop down to make me great.’ Psalm 18.35

The very idea of God stooping down to make us great is incredible.  It presents us with a picture of him coming to earth in the person of Jesus to be our Saviour.  He lowered himself to show us, amongst other things, how precious we are to him.

The ESV translation puts it like this: ‘…your gentleness makes me great.’  This opens up another aspect of the phrase; whoever we are and whatever we have done, we can come to God in the assurance that we will find gentleness with him.  It is the knowledge of this gentleness that gives us confidence to come to him, and in doing so we will find his acceptance and love.  His gentleness really does make us great.

To trust in the gentleness of God means putting aside some of the less helpful images, such as the stern teacher who is never satisfied or the traffic warden who is always looking for faults.  So what is God really like?  He is, of course, just like Jesus – who ate with sinners, blessed children and touched the sick.  This is the God who bids you ‘come’.

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