Unfailing mercy

Death comes to all, and sometimes it makes us cling to this life.

The author of Psalm 103 faces the reality of death with clear-eyed honesty. He speaks of failing man, like grass, like the flower of the field, soon withering and fading, its place remembering it no more.

He speaks of unfailing mercy, the covenant love and enduring righteousness of the God of heaven, by which he saves and keeps his people.

He speaks, too, of the marks of mercy, the indications of those who have tasted and are resting on the mercies of the Lord: righteously fearful, covenantally faithful, and never forgetful, proving in all things that they are God's and that he is theirs.

The unfailing mercies of God thus prove the only true refuge for failing men.