For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
He knows the human frame as frail, weak, limited and mortal, and remembers that people are dust and made from dust. That knowing is joined with pity like a father's pity for his children, shown in tender compassion toward those who fear Him. He therefore deals in longsuffering and tender mercy rather than according to perversity, foolishness, defects and lack of faith, not looking for reasons to condemn and not forsaking people when they make mistakes. His knowledge of weakness is joined with readiness to forgive, pardon and heal backsliding when a person repents, seeks grace, lives humbly and penitently, and turns from evil to do good. He lays on no one more nor less than the ability He has given, measuring His claim with exactness to every possibility for service, and gives help and everlasting strength to everyone who asks so that all He claims can be rendered through divine grace.
Words and Setting
He knows the human frame as frail, weak, limited and mortal, and remembers that people are dust, made and formed from dust. That knowing is understanding of human weakness, and it gives assurance that people may trust him in their weakness. His knowledge of this frailty is joined with pity like a father's pity for his children, shown with tender compassion toward those who fear him. He pities every weakness and does not willingly afflict or grieve.
The surrounding psalm praises forgiveness, healing, and renewed strength, as reflected in the paralytic's restoration. He does not treat people according to their sins but is patient and merciful because he knows their weakness and remembers their human frailty. Human life is presented there as brief and passing, like grass and dust, in contrast with the Lord's everlasting mercy.
His knowing takes account of each person's heart and circumstances. It includes whether a person could endure a future trial and what lies ahead, which is why prayers for healing are surrendered to his wisdom and will, and an unanswered request does not show lack of faith or unworthiness for eternal life. He is acquainted with every event in each life and knows dangers people cannot see, even permitting sorrowful events to turn them from paths that would bring greater peril.
The one who thus knows human weakness and frail earthly nature is Jesus Christ. In tender pity and compassion he loves, gives the help and strength needed to overcome, bear burdens, and grow in character. Having given his life and borne the strokes caused by transgression, he has made provision so that people might become prisoners of hope.
Mercy and Forgiveness
He remembers that human beings are made of dust and deals with them in longsuffering and tender mercy rather than according to their perversity, foolishness, erratic conduct and changeability. He sees their defects and their lack of faith and courage, yet He is patient and merciful because He knows their weakness and remembers their frailty, bearing with them in tender sympathy and patient love instead of dealing with them according to their sins. He does not look for reasons to condemn, but is ready to pardon, heals backsliding, and loves sinners freely, keeping His light upon them for Christ's sake.
His knowledge of human weakness is joined to attention to the heart and readiness to forgive when a person repents and seeks His grace. He offers to forgive past sin to the one who repents and seeks grace, yet this does not excuse continued rejection of His words and law. Those who live humbly and penitently, turn from evil and do what is good, receive His approval, for He pities people and forgives their transgressions. Like a father who pities his children, He treats those who fear Him with tender compassion and does not willingly afflict or grieve them. He does not forsake people when they make mistakes, but treats them with more mercy than people often show one another. Though they err, He does not forsake or abandon them as people may abandon one another, but continues to bear with them in tender sympathy and patient love.
This pity is comfort for those who suffer, are burdened by sin, or are afraid of death, for He pities them as a father pities his children. When strength fails and life seems slipping away, and the sick feel their need of divine help and remember God, He does not turn from any soul that sincerely seeks Him for help, but is a refuge in sickness as in health. He knows human weakness and meets it with help, knowing when they are faint and weary and inviting them to lean on Him. He is acquainted with every event in each person's life, and knowing human weakness He has shown that the only hope is through Christ's merits, since no one can bear the weight of sin or atone for mistakes, so He provides a way of escape through His gift of Christ. Because He knows people are only dust and cannot bear the weight of their sins or atone for their mistakes and errors, their only hope is through the merits of Jesus Christ, whom God gave out of love to provide a way of escape for sinners who could not save themselves. Christ knows human weakness and frail earthly nature, and in compassion He loves, gave His life and bore the strokes caused by transgression, so that they might become prisoners of hope.
Measured Claims and Strength
He knows the human frame and remembers that men and women are dust, and therefore he requires no more nor less than the ability he has given. He lays on his servants no burden they are not able to bear, and he does not place a burden without also giving strength to bear it. His claim is measured with exactness to every possibility for service. What he asks can be rendered through divine grace, so neglect of duty is without excuse.
In tender pity he gives the help and strength needed to overcome and to grow in character. Because he understands mortal, frail limits, he gives strength to everyone who asks him. He waits to give everlasting strength to every soul that asks, to bear burdens and to meet what he requires.
Making mistakes does not exclude a person from his service. Those who err should still faithfully use their talents while working to overcome harmful habits that could hurt others by example. Inability caused by infirmity in prayer is not counted as irreverence, for he remembers frailty.
Providence Trials and Healing
Because he knows the human frame as frail and mortal dust, and understands each heart and circumstance, prayer for the sick is to be surrendered to his wisdom and will. He knows what lies ahead and whether the sick could endure future trials, and some are permitted to die before the time of trouble. If healing is asked and the sick are not raised to health, that does not show lack of faith. Neither does it mean they are unworthy of eternal life.
Even while remembering frailty he may permit sorrowful events, for he sees dangers that people cannot see. Through such sadness he warns of danger and works to turn his people from paths that would bring greater peril and harm. By them he leads to examination of heart and to nearness to him. Their occurrence does not mean he has forgotten them.
Knowing human weakness and infirmity, his work to correct and shape character is done in love. Its aim is to restore and not to destroy. It serves eternal happiness.
Living Within Human Limits
God knows the limits of human beings and remembers their frailty as dust, so He does not require His workers to exhaust themselves or ruin health by continual taxation, even when the work is urgent and the laborers are few. He has fixed a limit to labor and does not expect more than they can do, not working to the utmost of strength, to exhaustion, or crowding two days' work into one. Workers must not presume upon or abuse their powers, even when the field is ripe for harvest, but must take care of physical powers, obey the laws of the physical organism, study the laws of health, use reason in work, and rest awhile to be fitted for tomorrow's labors. Only after they have done their best may they plead that the harvest is great and the laborers are few, for God knows their frame.
Because the Lord keeps in mind that humans are frail dust and knows the limits of physical strength, a worker in a warm, heating climate should be given less work than in a more bracing climate. Ministers should not give long discourses that exhaust their vital forces and weary hearers. Sermons one half the usual length, with fewer ideas so hearers can take in what is valuable, and with meetings changed to bring in evangelistic exercises, preserve the life and healthful piety of the speaker and do hearers far more good.
Human beings are limited and should recognize the limits of their own strength and judgment and not presume on themselves. They should seek counsel from those who can see matters more clearly before carrying out plans. His bearing with mistakes and pity for weakness is a pattern for tenderness and forbearance toward others. He knows how human beings are made and how a person's surroundings shape character, and remembers frailty with pity for those whose lives have been marked by degrading conditions. He does not forsake people when they make mistakes, but treats them with more mercy than people often show one another.
He knows the human frame as frail, weak, limited and mortal, and remembers that people are dust and made from dust.
That knowing is joined with pity like a father's pity for his children, shown in tender compassion toward those who fear Him.
He therefore deals in longsuffering and tender mercy rather than according to perversity, foolishness, defects and lack of faith, not looking for reasons to condemn and not forsaking people when they make mistakes.
His knowledge of weakness is joined with readiness to forgive, pardon and heal backsliding when a person repents, seeks grace, lives humbly and penitently, and turns from evil to do good.
He lays on no one more nor less than the ability He has given, measuring His claim with exactness to every possibility for service, and gives help and everlasting strength to everyone who asks so that all He claims can be rendered through divine grace.
Words and Setting
He knows the human frame as frail, weak, limited and mortal, and remembers that people are dust, made and formed from dust. That knowing is understanding of human weakness, and it gives assurance that people may trust him in their weakness. His knowledge of this frailty is joined with pity like a father's pity for his children, shown with tender compassion toward those who fear him. He pities every weakness and does not willingly afflict or grieve.
The surrounding psalm praises forgiveness, healing, and renewed strength, as reflected in the paralytic's restoration. He does not treat people according to their sins but is patient and merciful because he knows their weakness and remembers their human frailty. Human life is presented there as brief and passing, like grass and dust, in contrast with the Lord's everlasting mercy.
His knowing takes account of each person's heart and circumstances. It includes whether a person could endure a future trial and what lies ahead, which is why prayers for healing are surrendered to his wisdom and will, and an unanswered request does not show lack of faith or unworthiness for eternal life. He is acquainted with every event in each life and knows dangers people cannot see, even permitting sorrowful events to turn them from paths that would bring greater peril.
The one who thus knows human weakness and frail earthly nature is Jesus Christ. In tender pity and compassion he loves, gives the help and strength needed to overcome, bear burdens, and grow in character. Having given his life and borne the strokes caused by transgression, he has made provision so that people might become prisoners of hope.
Mercy and Forgiveness
He remembers that human beings are made of dust and deals with them in longsuffering and tender mercy rather than according to their perversity, foolishness, erratic conduct and changeability. He sees their defects and their lack of faith and courage, yet He is patient and merciful because He knows their weakness and remembers their frailty, bearing with them in tender sympathy and patient love instead of dealing with them according to their sins. He does not look for reasons to condemn, but is ready to pardon, heals backsliding, and loves sinners freely, keeping His light upon them for Christ's sake.
His knowledge of human weakness is joined to attention to the heart and readiness to forgive when a person repents and seeks His grace. He offers to forgive past sin to the one who repents and seeks grace, yet this does not excuse continued rejection of His words and law. Those who live humbly and penitently, turn from evil and do what is good, receive His approval, for He pities people and forgives their transgressions. Like a father who pities his children, He treats those who fear Him with tender compassion and does not willingly afflict or grieve them. He does not forsake people when they make mistakes, but treats them with more mercy than people often show one another. Though they err, He does not forsake or abandon them as people may abandon one another, but continues to bear with them in tender sympathy and patient love.
This pity is comfort for those who suffer, are burdened by sin, or are afraid of death, for He pities them as a father pities his children. When strength fails and life seems slipping away, and the sick feel their need of divine help and remember God, He does not turn from any soul that sincerely seeks Him for help, but is a refuge in sickness as in health. He knows human weakness and meets it with help, knowing when they are faint and weary and inviting them to lean on Him. He is acquainted with every event in each person's life, and knowing human weakness He has shown that the only hope is through Christ's merits, since no one can bear the weight of sin or atone for mistakes, so He provides a way of escape through His gift of Christ. Because He knows people are only dust and cannot bear the weight of their sins or atone for their mistakes and errors, their only hope is through the merits of Jesus Christ, whom God gave out of love to provide a way of escape for sinners who could not save themselves. Christ knows human weakness and frail earthly nature, and in compassion He loves, gave His life and bore the strokes caused by transgression, so that they might become prisoners of hope.
Measured Claims and Strength
He knows the human frame and remembers that men and women are dust, and therefore he requires no more nor less than the ability he has given. He lays on his servants no burden they are not able to bear, and he does not place a burden without also giving strength to bear it. His claim is measured with exactness to every possibility for service. What he asks can be rendered through divine grace, so neglect of duty is without excuse.
In tender pity he gives the help and strength needed to overcome and to grow in character. Because he understands mortal, frail limits, he gives strength to everyone who asks him. He waits to give everlasting strength to every soul that asks, to bear burdens and to meet what he requires.
Making mistakes does not exclude a person from his service. Those who err should still faithfully use their talents while working to overcome harmful habits that could hurt others by example. Inability caused by infirmity in prayer is not counted as irreverence, for he remembers frailty.
Providence Trials and Healing
Because he knows the human frame as frail and mortal dust, and understands each heart and circumstance, prayer for the sick is to be surrendered to his wisdom and will. He knows what lies ahead and whether the sick could endure future trials, and some are permitted to die before the time of trouble. If healing is asked and the sick are not raised to health, that does not show lack of faith. Neither does it mean they are unworthy of eternal life.
Even while remembering frailty he may permit sorrowful events, for he sees dangers that people cannot see. Through such sadness he warns of danger and works to turn his people from paths that would bring greater peril and harm. By them he leads to examination of heart and to nearness to him. Their occurrence does not mean he has forgotten them.
Knowing human weakness and infirmity, his work to correct and shape character is done in love. Its aim is to restore and not to destroy. It serves eternal happiness.
Living Within Human Limits
God knows the limits of human beings and remembers their frailty as dust, so He does not require His workers to exhaust themselves or ruin health by continual taxation, even when the work is urgent and the laborers are few. He has fixed a limit to labor and does not expect more than they can do, not working to the utmost of strength, to exhaustion, or crowding two days' work into one. Workers must not presume upon or abuse their powers, even when the field is ripe for harvest, but must take care of physical powers, obey the laws of the physical organism, study the laws of health, use reason in work, and rest awhile to be fitted for tomorrow's labors. Only after they have done their best may they plead that the harvest is great and the laborers are few, for God knows their frame.
Because the Lord keeps in mind that humans are frail dust and knows the limits of physical strength, a worker in a warm, heating climate should be given less work than in a more bracing climate. Ministers should not give long discourses that exhaust their vital forces and weary hearers. Sermons one half the usual length, with fewer ideas so hearers can take in what is valuable, and with meetings changed to bring in evangelistic exercises, preserve the life and healthful piety of the speaker and do hearers far more good.
Human beings are limited and should recognize the limits of their own strength and judgment and not presume on themselves. They should seek counsel from those who can see matters more clearly before carrying out plans. His bearing with mistakes and pity for weakness is a pattern for tenderness and forbearance toward others. He knows how human beings are made and how a person's surroundings shape character, and remembers frailty with pity for those whose lives have been marked by degrading conditions. He does not forsake people when they make mistakes, but treats them with more mercy than people often show one another.