God’s Character Never Changes

A Few Thoughts to Consider

Do you naturally delight in God’s character?

Psalms 144 to 146 collectively emphasize trust, praise, and dependence on God. Psalm 145, the last of the acrostic psalms, is a hymn of praise, celebrating God's greatness, compassion, and faithfulness, urging all generations to proclaim his mighty acts. “The last of all the David psalms fittingly completes the tally, and at the same time is an equally fitting lead in to the five songs of praise that will bring the Psalter to a close.”^[1]

We can divide the psalm into two halves—verses 1-9 and verses 10-20. “In the first half calls to praise predominate and in the second half grounds for praise.”^[2] David writes in verses 8-9, ⁸ “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and great in faithful love. ⁹ The Lord is good to everyone; his compassion rests on all he has made.” These verses echo the foundational description of God first revealed to Moses in Exodus 34:6-7, where the Lord said to Moses:  

⁷ The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, ⁷ maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.

By repeating these lines, David is showing that no matter what, God’s people can always trust that he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and great in faithful love. Regardless of how undeserving we feel, God's love and compassion are steadfast. He meets us where we are, not with condemnation but with kindness.

He is, as David writes, ¹⁷ “righteous in all his ways and faithful in all his acts. ¹⁸ The Lord is near all who call out to him, all who call out to him with integrity.”