God Does Not Deal with Us According to Our Sins

A steady refrain in contemporary speech is the assertion, “I deserve better.” One hears it in broken relationships, in workplace disappointments, and in domestic frustrations. The phrase is revealing. It expresses a deeply moral calculus, yet one formed by the world’s grammar of desert rather than the Gospel’s logic of grace. Scripture acknowledges the moral structure of reality, but it undercuts self-referential claims to merit by unveiling the truth of human sin and the even greater truth of Divine mercy. The Psalmist gives this countercultural declaration in a line of exquisite simplicity and depth: “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103:10, ESV). To confess this is to step out of the narrow economy of entitlement into the spacious economy of the Lord’s steadfast love.

This blog post offers a close exegetical reading of Psalm 103:10 in its literary and theological context, with attention to the original Hebrew. It then traces the verse’s fulfillment in the Gospel, drawing on the English Standard Version of the Bible, to confront the spiritual perils of pride and entitlement and to invite readers into the freedom of repentance and gratitude. The aim is not merely to analyze a sentence, but to learn to pray it, sing it, and embody it as the Church, so that our lives echo the Psalmist’s call to bless the Lord.

Psalm 103 in Context

Psalm 103 is a Davidic Psalm that functions as a liturgy of personal and corporate remembrance. It opens with a self-exhortation that expands into a cosmic doxology: “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name” (Psalm 103:1). The opening verses enumerate the Lord’s benefits: forgiveness, healing, redemption, crowning love, and satisfaction that renews vigor “like the eagle’s” (Psalm 103:2–5). Verses 6–14 rehearse the Lord’s character and saving acts, echoing the self-revelation of God in Exodus 34:6–7 and drawing out its implications for a sinful people. Verses 15–18 contrast human frailty and mortality with the infinite reach of Divine steadfast love. The Psalm concludes with a universal summons to praise from angels, hosts, and all God’s works, culminating again in the Psalmist’s own soul blesssing the Lord (Psalm 103:19–22).

Psalm 103:10 sits within verses 8–12, a unit that braids together God’s revealed Name and character with the practical effect of that character upon His people. The flow is significant:

• “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Psalm 103:8).
  
  

• “He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever” (Psalm 103:9).
  
  

• “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103:10).
  
  

• “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him” (Psalm 103:11).
  
  

• “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12).

The grammar of the passage moves from the revelation of God’s character to the removal of our guilt. Divine disposition precedes Divine action. Mercy is not a last-minute adjustment to a policy of wrath, but an attribute rooted in the Lord’s Name. This is precisely the echo of Exodus 34:6–7: “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” and yet “by no means” clearing the guilty. Psalm 103 articulates how, in covenantal faithfulness, the Lord bears with His people, does not keep anger forever, and acts in a way out of proportion to their deserts.

Exegesis of Psalm 103:10

The Masoretic Text reads:

לֹא כַחֲטָאתֵינוּ עָשָׂה לָנוּ וְלֹא כַעֲוֹנֹתֵינוּ גָּמַל עָלֵינוּ

Transliterated: lo kachăṭā’teinu ‘āsāh lānû, wĕlo ka‘ăwōnōtēinu gāmal ‘ālênû.

A literal translation is: “Not according to our sins has He done to us, and not according to our iniquities has He repaid upon us.”

Two parallel cola present a negated comparison introduced by lo (“not”) and k (“according to, as”). The parallelism is both synonymous and intensifying.

“He has not done to us according to our sins.”
The verb ‘āsāh is Qal perfect, third masculine singular, the most general Hebrew verb for “to do,” “to act,” or “to deal.” The perfect aspect, within the poetic register, conveys a consummated and characteristic action; in praise poetry, perfects often carry gnomic or customary force. In other words, David is not only looking back to specific episodes of mercy. He is also confessing a Divine practice that defines the covenant relationship. The complement kaḥăṭā’teinu (“according to our sins”) uses ḥaṭṭā’â in the plural, a term linked to “missing the mark” or deviation from what is right. The plural suggests a totality or accumulation of moral failures.

“Nor according to our iniquities has He repaid upon us.”
The second colon intensifies the first with a more specific verb and a darker noun. The verb gāmal in Qal can mean “to deal with,” “to reward,” or “to repay,” often with a sense of retributive outcome. The preposition ‘al (“upon us”) after gāmal highlights the direction of recompense that might justly fall on the offender. The noun ‘āwōn (“iniquity”) denotes not only the act of wrongdoing but also its crooked, damaging consequence and the guilt that rests upon the sinner. So the second line moves from general action to the juridical sphere of recompense, and from sin as missing the mark to iniquity as culpable perversity and its liability. The parallelism dramatizes a God who refuses to let the strict calculus of sin’s deserts fall upon His people.

The Septuagint confirms this reading: οὐ κατὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν ἐποίησεν ἡμῖν, οὐδὲ κατὰ τὰς ἀνομίας ἡμῶν ἀνταπέδωκεν ἡμῖν. The Greek adds the verbal nuance of ἀνταποδίδωμι for gāmal, clearly “to repay in return,” which matches the juridical sense. The ESV rendering, “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities,” is faithful to the Hebrew parallelism and retains the judicial dimension.

Two theological notes emerge directly from the Hebrew:

First, the assertion is comparative and not absolute. The Psalmist does not deny that God deals with sin or that He disciplines His people. He affirms, rather, that God’s dealing is not commensurate with what sin, left to strict retributive justice, would require. Verse 9 clarifies: “He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.” God’s anger is real and righteous, yet it is not ultimate in relation to His covenant love. Verse 12 then identifies the positive correlative: God removes transgressions to an infinite remove.

Second, the assertion is relational and covenantal. The verbs are oriented toward “us,” the people who fear the Lord and remember His covenant (Psalm 103:11, 17–18). The mercy described is not generic benevolence. It is the outworking of the Name revealed to Moses and enacted in history, a mercy that constitutes Israel’s very identity as the forgiven people of God. The Psalmist personalizes this corporate grace and invites each worshiper to bless the Lord who has forgiven all iniquity (Psalm 103:3).

The Tension of Exodus 34 and Its Resolution in the Gospel

Exodus 34:6–7 declares two realities that can appear to be in tension. God forgives “iniquity and transgression and sin,” but He also “will by no means clear the guilty.” The Old Testament does not resolve this tension by denying either side. It sustains the paradox within the sacrificial system and the prophetic hope for a Servant who would bear iniquity. Isaiah 53 speaks with astonishing specificity: “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities… and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:5–6). The removal of transgressions “as far as the east is from the west” is not a Divine amnesia but a Divine atonement.

The New Testament declares that the Cross of Jesus Christ is the resolution of the Exodus 34 tension. In Romans 3:24–26 believers “are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” Paul states that God did this “so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Justice is not set aside. Justice is satisfied in the substitution of the Son. The Lord does not deal with us according to our sins, because He has dealt with sin according to its deserts in the crucified Messiah. He does not repay us according to our iniquities, because in Christ He has “condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8:3) and credited righteousness to the ungodly by faith (Romans 4:5). “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Thus, Psalm 103:10 is not an evasion of justice. It is a doxological anticipation of the Gospel’s satisfaction of justice and the overflow of mercy toward the undeserving. The Psalmist marvels at what God has already begun to do in covenant mercies; the Christian confesses the fullness of that mercy in the Cross and Resurrection.

The World’s Logic of Desert and the Bible’s Logic of Grace

It is not surprising that many say, “I deserve better.” The world trains the mind to think in terms of desert, acquisition, and entitlement. The Apostle John names the spiritual engines of this logic: “For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life, is not from the Father but is from the world” (1 John 2:16). The language of “deserve” appears moral, yet underneath it often pulses the “pride of life.” This is why the Bible identifies our plight first not as unmet entitlements but as personal guilt before a holy God. Paul’s language is unflinching: “and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Ephesians 2:3). The moral calculus, if left to us, spells doom. If the Lord dealt with us “according to our sins,” we would have no hope. As the Psalmist says elsewhere, “If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” (Psalm 130:3).

The Gospel does not enter this calculus as an optional uplift to already deserving persons. It confronts and overturns the calculus altogether. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Wages correspond to desert. Gifts correspond to the giver’s goodness. Salvation is not a negotiated salary. It is a bestowed life. God’s kindness is not naive permissiveness. It is the Divine power that leads sinners to repentance: “God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance” (Romans 2:4). Therefore, the insistence on personal desert is spiritually dangerous not only because it is frequently false, but also because it blinds the soul to the one thing needful, which is mercy received by faith.

Only the Undeserving Receive Grace and the Posture of Faith

To insist that salvation comes to the undeserving does not diminish human value. On the contrary, it grounds human worth in the Creator’s love rather than in our achievements. The Bible’s anthropology humbles and dignifies simultaneously. The Cross proves both: the depth of our guilt, for such a price was necessary, and the height of God’s love, for such a gift was given. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Faith is the posture that acknowledges the truth about one’s sin and the truth about God’s grace, and rests the whole weight of one’s hope upon Jesus Christ. The tax collector in Jesus’ parable stands as the archetypal recipient: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13). He “went down to his house justified” precisely because he did not claim desert but cast himself upon mercy.

This is why God’s mercy scandalizes worldly minds. The same complaint arose in Jesus’ ministry, when He forgave notorious sinners and welcomed them to table. Yet the scandal is the heart of the Gospel’s glory. “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick,” Jesus said. “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). The mercy that does not repay us according to our iniquities is not unfair. It is beautiful, because it magnifies the Giver.

Mercy Is Not Moral Indifference

Someone may object that a strong proclamation of Psalm 103:10 risks cheapening grace. Does not the statement “He does not deal with us according to our sins” open the door to moral laxity. The answer is found by reading Psalm 103 in full and by following the New Testament trajectory of grace. The Psalm itself declares that those who receive mercy are those who “fear him,” who “keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments” (Psalm 103:11, 18). The mercy of God is covenantal mercy that binds His people to Himself in reverent love. The New Testament deepens the point: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions” (Titus 2:11–12). Grace is a teacher. It breaks sin’s penalty and sin’s dominion. It establishes a new way of life.

Furthermore, God’s refusal to repay us according to our sins does not negate His fatherly discipline. It transfigures it. “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him” (Psalm 103:13). The Book of Hebrews explains that the Lord disciplines those whom He loves, not in punitive wrath, but in sanctifying love, “that we may share his holiness” (Hebrews 12:10). Divine discipline is not retributive payback. It is restorative pedagogy. The Cross has exhausted wrath for those in Christ. Therefore, the Father’s correction aims at growth, not condemnation. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

A Closer Look at the Lexical Field: Sin, Iniquity, and Recompense

The Psalmist’s lexical pairing invites meditation. Ḥaṭṭā’â highlights sin as failure to conform to righteousness, a missing of the mark. ‘Āwōn underlines the perversity of the act and the culpability that accrues. The Old Testament sometimes speaks of iniquity “finding out” the sinner, of guilt that clings and corrodes. The verb gāmal renders the expected moral consequence. Left unaddressed, iniquity calls for recompense. Psalm 103:10 does not deny a moral universe of cause and effect. It proclaims Divine intervention within that universe. God refuses the proportionality that guilt demands and substitutes His steadfast love. The next verses expand the measure: the height of the heavens over the earth, the infinite horizon from east to west. The removal of transgression is not incremental. It is immeasurable.

This negative formulation in verse 10 stands in luminous harmony with positive statements across Scripture. Psalm 32 opens, “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” (Psalm 32:1). Micah sings, “You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19). Isaiah records the Divine promise, “I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist” (Isaiah 44:22). The Psalmist’s negatives and the prophets’ positives together prefigure the Great Exchange accomplished in Christ.

The Moral Psychology of Entitlement and the Healing of Gratitude

The insistence “I deserve better” exposes an inner wound that the world calls self-assertion but that Scripture diagnoses as pride. The remedy is not self-hatred. It is gratitude. Psalm 103 is designed to cultivate gratitude by commanding the soul to remember. “Forget not all his benefits” (Psalm 103:2). Gratitude grows where memory is exercised in the presence of God. Gratitude is realistic about sorrow and injustice, yet it refuses to enthrone the self. It sees one’s life as gift, not as wage, and so it frees the heart to bless the Lord in seasons of famine and plenty. This is why Jesus teaches that the one forgiven much loves much, and the one who imagines little need for forgiveness loves little (Luke 7:47). Gratitude is not merely a noble feeling. It is the moral posture that accords with the truth of Psalm 103:10. If God does not deal with me according to my sins, then all good that I receive is mercy, and all discipline I endure is love.

“Salvation Comes to the Undeserving”

To say that salvation comes to the undeserving is to affirm the Reformational heart of the Gospel. Justification is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. God does not justify the worthy. “And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:5). Therefore, no one may boast before God. When the world says, “Nothing is free,” the Gospel replies, “The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). This gift does not nullify human agency. It transforms it. Having been loved first, believers are empowered to love. Having been forgiven, they forgive. Having been shown mercy, they become merciful. “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).

From Entitlement to Imitation

How does Psalm 103:10 reshape life in a world enthralled by claims of desert.

In relationships. The parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:21–35 warns those who have received extravagant mercy yet refuse to extend it. The servant is “seized” by strict repayment logic toward his fellow, even though he has just been released from an unpayable debt. Jesus’ point is clear. The Gospel forbids the economy of small strictness after receiving the economy of infinite pardon. Psalm 103:10 should soften the hearts of spouses, parents, children, and friends. Mercy does not deny boundaries or justice, yet it tempers anger, refuses vengeance, and seeks reconciliation.

In the workplace. The Psalm teaches us to renounce a spirit of grievance and to cultivate a spirit of service. This does not mean accepting injustice without protest. It means that one’s heart is not animated primarily by claims of personal desert, but by the desire to glorify God. When wronged, one pursues justice with humility. When honored, one receives honor as stewardship. When evaluating others, one remembers, “He does not deal with us according to our sins.”

In the home. Parents mirror the Father when they correct children with compassion. Discipline that seeks repayment is harsh and often vindictive. Discipline that seeks formation is patient and wise. Children who live within such mercy learn the fear of the Lord that is compatible with confidence and joy. “As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him” (Psalm 103:13).

In the Church. The Church is the community that sings Psalm 103 as its charter. Its preaching announces grace. Its sacraments exhibit and seal mercy. Its discipline is restorative. Its fellowship displays patience. Its mission offers the undeserving world the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Mercy is not naivete about sin. Mercy is clarity about the Cross.

Confession and Assurance: The Liturgical Shape of Mercy

Psalm 103 invites a pattern of confession and assurance. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Notice that forgiveness is not described as a Divine mood swing. It is grounded in God’s faithfulness and justice as revealed in Christ. The Father remains just when He pardons, because the Son has satisfied justice. Thus the Christian can confess sins honestly, without self-excusing and without despair. Assurance rises not from self-evaluation but from the Word of the Gospel. Psalm 130:4 captures the effect upon the soul: “But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.” Mercy does not produce moral carelessness. It produces reverent love.

David’s Biography as Exegetical Illustration

David’s own story supplies a powerful illustration of Psalm 103:10. After grievous sin involving Bathsheba and Uriah, David repented in tears. He confessed, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:4). He pleaded for mercy and cleansing. The Lord forgave him, yet consequences followed. The key is to distinguish between punishment that repays iniquity according to its deserts and fatherly discipline that, though painful, aims at restoration. David did not receive the full condemnation that his crimes deserved. He did receive the grace of restoration and the pain of sanctifying discipline. Psalm 103:10 therefore reads like an aged David’s settled praise, born of bitter failure and astonishing pardon.

Spiritual Practices for Receiving and Reflecting Mercy

If “asking for what we deserve reveals a heart deceived by worldly thinking,” as the observation aptly puts it, then the Spirit must retrain our affections. Several practices commend themselves.

Daily remembrance. Recite Psalm 103:1–5 in prayer, culminating in verse 10. The Psalm was given to stir memory and praise. Speak it aloud until the heart consents to its truths.

Confession and absolution. Build into personal devotion and corporate worship a regular movement of confession and assurance. Read 1 John 1:9 and Romans 8:1 frequently. Bring concrete sins into the light. Receive Christ’s pardon with confidence.

Meditation on the Cross. Read Isaiah 53, Romans 3:21–26, and 2 Corinthians 5:21. Ask the Spirit to make the substitutionary work of Christ vivid and sweet. As long as the Cross is abstract, entitlement will feel plausible. When the Cross becomes personal, entitlement appears absurd.

Practicing mercy. Choose one relationship in which you have demanded repayment. Consciously shift to the Psalm 103:10 posture. Forgive the debt. Seek reconciliation where possible. Do good in return for wrong. “Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13).

Gratitude journaling. Each evening, note three mercies received. Thank the Lord by name for each. Gratitude starves pride and fuels love.

Memorization with application. Memorize Psalm 103:8–12. As you recite, ask the Spirit for a specific way to imitate the Father’s mercy that day. Jesus commands, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36).

Addressing the Objection of “Fairness”

Another objection arises from a secular sense of fairness. How can God forgive evil people as freely as He forgives moral people. Does this not short-circuit justice. Paul anticipates this reaction. It is precisely “God’s kindness” that “is meant to lead you to repentance” (Romans 2:4). Divine clemency is not a shrug at evil. It is a summons to turn from evil. The so-called respectable sinner and the notorious sinner stand on level ground at the foot of the Cross. The world’s complaint is in part correct that mercy does not distribute rewards according to prior deserts. The Gospel responds that mercy is exactly the point. The Father gives what no one can earn, because the Son has paid what all deserved. The only scandal that remains is the scandal of our pride.

The Fear of the Lord and the Freedom of the Forgiven

Psalm 103 regularly anchors mercy in “those who fear him” (Psalm 103:11, 13, 17). Fear of the Lord is not servile terror but reverent awe that befits forgiven creatures. The forgiven are freed from slavery to sin and from the tyranny of self-justification. They do not suppress the truth of their guilt. They confess it and then rise to serve with joy. The fear of the Lord expels the fear of judgment and the fear of man. In this freedom, one can endure mistreatment without bitterness, pursue justice without hatred, and labor without making work an altar to the self. Freedom does not erase creaturely limits. Freedom embraces limits as the theater in which mercy does its most beautiful work.

From “Deserving Wrath” to “Beloved Children”

Ephesians 2:3 names us “by nature children of wrath,” and the context underlines the hopelessness of the human condition apart from grace. The good news is the immediate turn: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us… made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:4–5). The Psalmist’s confession and Paul’s proclamation harmonize perfectly. The Father does not repay according to iniquity, because He has made us alive in Christ and adopted us as His children. The Spirit seals this reality, training us to cry, “Abba! Father!” Adoption replaces estrangement. Mercy replaces wrath. This movement is not sentimental. It was purchased at infinite cost. Therefore, the Church is both tender and serious, both joyful and sober, because it lives daily at the intersection where Psalm 103:10 meets Romans 3:26.

“An Offer Too Good to Be True” and the Trustworthiness of God

The world suspects that nothing is truly free and that those who help must have an angle. The Gospel contradicts cynicism. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The gift is not a marketing gimmick. It is the outflow of God’s character. “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Psalm 103:8). Because God is both merciful and truthful, His promises can be trusted. He will not recant His pardon. He will not reintroduce condemnation under another name. “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). The horizon is infinite. The burden is gone.

Learning to Bless the Lord

The Psalm that gives us verse 10 sends us back to doxology. “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits” (Psalm 103:2). Doxology is not a decorative flourish after the serious business of theology. Doxology is the necessary end of theology done in truth. When the soul realizes that the Lord has not dealt with it according to its sins, praise rises naturally, like breath after drowning. The Church’s task is to sing this Psalm until the truth becomes the culture of our hearts. Where the world chants, “I deserve better,” the Church sings, “I have received mercy.” Where the world teaches self-assertion, the Church teaches confession and thanksgiving. Where the world demands repayment, the Church practices forgiveness. Where the world clings to grievances, the Church remembers the Cross.

A Brief Exegetical Summary

Psalm 103:10 presents a finely tuned parallelism that denies proportional retribution upon God’s penitent people. The Qal perfects of ‘āsāh and gāmal assert a settled Divine pattern of action. The nouns ḥaṭṭā’ôt and ‘ăwōnōt encompass the moral scope of human offense, from missing the mark to culpable perversity. The verse rests within an Exodus 34 framework in which God’s merciful character governs His dealings, without erasing justice. The Gospel reveals the Cross as the place where justice and mercy meet, enabling God to be both “just and the justifier” (Romans 3:26). Therefore, Psalm 103:10 is not a thin optimism. It is a robust confession that drives us to Christ.

A Pastoral Exhortation

If you sense the repeated refrain rising within, “I deserve better,” let Psalm 103:10 interrupt it. Agree with God about your need, not with the world about your entitlement. Confess your sins. Trust the Son. Receive the Spirit’s assurance. Then go and enact mercy in the places where you previously demanded repayment. In marriage, seek to outdo one another in showing honor. In the workplace, labor as one who has received a gift, not as one who must secure worth. In the home, correct without cruelty, and speak truth suffused with tenderness. In the Church, bear with one another, forgive one another, and bless without ceasing.

To that end, consider praying this prayer, aligned with the ESV’s witness and the Psalmist’s hope:

Lord, you are merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. You have not dealt with me according to my sins, nor repaid me according to my iniquities. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is your steadfast love toward those who fear you. As far as the east is from the west, so far have you removed my transgressions from me. Through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.
(cf. Psalm 103:8–12)

The Joy of the Undeserving

In the end, the glory of Psalm 103:10 is the joy it generates in undeserving people. Joy in God is the natural fruit of a pardoned life. It is not naive cheerfulness. It is the resilient gladness of someone who knows that the Lord has acted decisively and graciously. The world says, “Do not be a fool. Nothing is free.” The Gospel replies with a crucified and risen Savior who says, “It is finished.” The Cross is the place where sin received its desert, and the empty tomb is the place where mercy triumphed. If God has not repaid us according to our iniquities, then we may rise from our knees to bless the Lord with our whole being. We may face sorrow without despair and success without arrogance. We may stop measuring our worth by outcomes and start measuring our life by grace. We may forgive as we have been forgiven and love as we have been loved.

Therefore, let the Church, with David, teach her own soul, her children, and the nations to say and to sing: “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103:10). And in saying it, let her live it, until the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.