Who Is God: Part 1

One night I was struggling with sleep much like tonight and I opened the precious Word of God and while I was opening it up not really knowing what I was going to read or anything a piece of paper fell out that a wonderful friend of mine gave me in Canyon. It is a HUGE list of names, titles, and descriptions of God. It is amazing how long the list is. As I was looking at one of the verses there was a description of who God is that jumped right out of the pages to me and I really wanted to take out time and share this with you. The verse given was in Nehemiah 9:17 but I really would like to give some context so it will make more sense. The children of Israel took out a day and were confessing their sins and here is part of what the Levites spoke: "Moreover you led them in the day by a cloudy pillar; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go. You came down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments. And made known unto them your holy sabbath, and commanded them precepts, statutes, and laws by the hand of Moses your servant. And gave them bread from heaven for their hunger, and brought forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promised them that they should go in to possess the land which you had sworn to give them. But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to your commandments, And refused to obey, neither were mindful of your wonders that you did among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but you are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsook them not." ~ Nehemiah 9:12-17 (The part in italics is what I am focusing on to describe the God I serve and I pray that all of us serve). As I read this I just sat back and was humbled by who God is for me. Israel has made mistakes but guess what I have made mistakes too. I look at this and I am so thankful I serve a God who will show me the grace and mercy needed so that my sins can be forgiven. He is a God who died for me on a cross so that I would have the opportunity to experience the forgiveness of the Father first hand. I am so thankful that He is slow to anger and my prayer is that He would provide me the ability to be slow to anger as well so that others might see Him in me. I deserve to have Him give up on me and yet He has chosen to be kind to me and that is how I should be to those who I want to give up on. I feel so thankful to have a God so forgiving towards me and my prayer is that He will teach me how to forgive like Him! I have a strong desire to delight God the Father and to bring Him glory in all I think, say, and do. I hope that the Lord encourages you today and that you (nor myself) would return to the bondage that He has freed us from but instead that we would be "mindful of His wonders"!