God doesn't treat us according to what our sins deserve. He doesn't pay us back in kind for our wrongs. Instead, He offers a grace that's fundamentally disproportionate to our merit.
I think about what we actually deserve. Every person carries shame, done things we wish we hadn't, spoken words we'd retract. If God simply paid us what our wrongdoing is worth, the currency would be cosmic loneliness, separation, death. That's not mercy. That's justice.
But mercy is the refusal to exact what's owed. It's the debt holder tearing up the note. It's saying your failure doesn't determine your future. The gap between what you deserve and what you're given is where grace lives. The psalmist's celebrating that gap. He's amazed by it. And he's inviting us to feel that amazement too. When was the last time you were staggered by the fact that God isn't treating you according to your sins?
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