Psalm 101:1

1I will sing of mercy and justice; To You, O Lord, I will sing praises.
-Psalm 101:1

I cannot recount the amount of times I have heard of people saying that the God of the New Testament is the kind, loving, and merciful God, and the God of the Old Testament is a mean, angry, and vengeful God. With that being a recurring theme among several believers, I see fit to address passages such as this that are written in the Old Testament. David, without having the New Testament and without the active revelation of Jesus Christ, praises God for His mercy and justice.

What is really captivating about these two things that David is giving praise for is that mercy and justice do not seem to coincide. If someone does wrong to you, will show mercy or enact justice? The big problem with Scripture is not how a good God can exist in an evil world. It is how can a just God be merciful. For all of us who have entered into Christ we know well that it would have been just for God do away with us. We have an answer for how God can show mercy and be just through Jesus. David sees this reality even without such a revelation.

David is left with a pattern of the works of God. In it, he can see God dealing with wickedness and rewarding righteousness. He can see the opportunity that the Lord gives for repentance and withholding His mighty hand. David had experienced the mercy of God mightily in his own life. God is unchanging. He is merciful. He is just. Praise the Lord!