8 Outstanding Characteristics of God: A Study of Psalm 145, Part 2

Welcome to the blog today! I hope this last week in January is going well for you.

Our girls are now back at college. I rode down to Florida with them on Saturday and flew home on Sunday. Their first day of classes was yesterday, and I’ve been praying for a smooth start to their semester. Meanwhile, it’s pretty quiet here at the house. There’s no one moving around upstairs or hanging out in the sunroom and I’m back to cooking for just two of us.

A couple of weeks ago I started a study in Psalm 145. We covered the first seven verses and talked about praising God with enthusiasm. Today we’re going to delve into verses eight through fourteen.

This is a great passage if you like to use Scripture to praise God during your prayer time. We’ll talk a little more about that at the end. But first, let’s delve into eight characteristics of God that we see in these verses. You can read Psalm 145:8-14 in your Bible if it’s handy, but I’ll also post the verses throughout the post.

The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. ~Verse 8

1.God is gracious.

He has chosen to love us and to extend His favor to us. We’ve done nothing to earn or deserve His grace, yet He gives it freely.

2. God is full of compassion.

I like the use of the word “full” here. God doesn’t just have a little compassion; He is filled with it.

3. God is slow to anger.

Can we just park here for a minute and give thanks for this? Surely we’ve given God many reasons to be angry with us. How often are we faithless or disobedient or self-dependent? Yet our God is patient and longsuffering.

4. God is merciful.

Again, we’re given a description of this characteristic. His mercy is great or abundant.

The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. ~Verse 9

5. God is good to all.

God is good. May we never doubt that simple truth. And He is good to all. We read several times in God’s Word that there is no respect of persons with God. His goodness extends to everyone.

All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee. ~Verse 10

6. God is worthy of our praise.

He’s our Creator, Redeemer, Savior, and Lord.

They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. ~Verses 11-12

7. God is powerful.

He has done and continues to perform mighty works, acts that can only be attributed to an omnipotent God.

Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. ~Verse 13

8. God is eternal.

Our God has no beginning and no ending. He is everlasting.

In the verses above, we read about our great and mighty God. And then we reach verse 14.

The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.

The majestic, amazing God who is all-powerful and has dominion over all condescends to reach down to support us and lift us up. He’s our sustainer when life is hard. He gives us strength to overcome the obstacles we face. He lifts us up and gives us peace and hope when we’re discouraged.

There’s such a rich treasure trove of knowledge about God in Psalm 145! Here’s a brief prayer of praise based on these verses.

Dear God, Thank you that you are characterized by grace. You show us favor and kindness in so many ways every day. I praise you for your heart of compassion that allows you to sympathize with our sufferings. You are slow to get angry with us and your mercy toward us is great.

You are good. All that you are and all that you do make you worthy of my praise. You are a powerful king who will reign over all forever and ever. Thank you that when I stumble, you are there to catch me. When grief or pain or despair cause me to bow down, you raise me up. You alone are worthy of my love, my praise, my adoration.

Let’s rejoice today that we serve a God worthy of all our praise!

Related posts:

• How to Praise God When Life Is Difficult
• 5 Valuable Ways to Worship God Like David Did
• 10 Things We Can Know About God’s Goodness