NOTES for Psa 103

The Lord’s mercy surpasses everything we could imagine, and for us this is not merely very difficult but impossible when we follow human notions of justice. But His ways are not our ways, and although mercy and truth all too often diverge on earth, in the Lord they abide in unity. A unity of qualities that, according to ordinary logic, contradict one another is usually called antinomic, but one does not wish to call the Lord’s unity of mercy and justice by that name. It is precisely because He sees what we are and what can be expected of us that He is patient with us, without, however, lowering His demands upon us.

Therefore, the reminder of His righteousness, which abides upon those who keep His covenant, is not superfluous. By following Him, we receive the possibility of rising at least to some degree above everyday logic and sharing in the righteousness that proceeds from Him and unites mercy with justice.