like God, but smaller

Today we read from Isaiah 54:1-57:14 in the One Year Bible. We are told that God "abandoned us for a brief moment, but with great compassion He will take us back." And this reminds us of other places in the Old Testament where He tells us that if we break our covenant with Him, He will punish us and our descendants, but not very many generations. If we obey His commands and keep our covenant with Him, He will reward us to many, many more generations.

It's good for us to realize that He doesn't have to do any of those things. We have all turned away from Him at one time or another, and He would be completely justified in just getting rid of all of us. But in His great mercy, kindness, forgiveness, and grace, He brings us back to Him, over and over, time after time.
 
He doesn't ask us to forgive others that often. Yes, we must forgive them "seventy times seven" times, but honestly, how often can a human being wrong you in one lifetime? Even if they do it several times a day for all of the years of your life, that's a small amount compared to all of the times that God forgives us. So what He does for us in huge amounts, He asks us to do for others in tiny amounts. Not just because others need our forgiveness, but because NOT forgiving people changes us into horrible versions of ourselves.

God, thank You for Your rich mercy and never ending forgiveness. Help us to be like that, if only in a small way.