Wisdom 11:17-26: in context

The writer of Wisdom marvels at God's restraint and mercy toward sinful people. God, who created the world and holds all things in his hand, could have destroyed the wicked in a single moment, by a mere breath. Yet he does not. You have mercy on all, the writer says, and you overlook the sins of men, that they may repent. For you love all things that are, and abhor none of the things which you made; you spare all things, because they are yours, O Sovereign Lord, you who love the living. God's restraint flows from his love for all he has made.

The wonder the writer marvels at is God's love for all he has made, and the sparing mercy that flows from it. God, who could destroy in a moment, instead spares and shows mercy, and the reason given is his love: you love all things that are, and abhor none of the things which you made. God does not hate what he has made; he loves it. He would never have made anything he hated; and because he loves what he made, he spares it, showing mercy, giving space for repentance. His restraint is not weakness but love, the love of the Maker for what he has made. This reveals something deep about God's heart toward his creatures, including sinners. We can imagine God as eager to condemn, quick to destroy, harsh toward sinners. But this passage, with much of Scripture, reveals a God who loves all he has made, who does not delight in destroying, who spares and shows mercy because he loves. The LORD is good to all, the psalmist says, and his tender mercies are over all his works. God's love extends to all he has made; and this love is why he spares and gives space for repentance rather than destroying at once. And this sparing mercy has a purpose: that they may repent. God overlooks sins, holds back judgment, gives space and time, not out of indifference to sin, but so that sinners may have opportunity to turn and repent. His patience is mercy, room for repentance. He is patient, Scripture says, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. God's restraint is his mercy, his sparing love giving sinners space to turn. This is a comfort and a call. It comforts us: the God we have to do with is not eager to destroy but loves what he has made, spares in mercy, and gives space for repentance; his heart toward us, even in our sin, is love. And it calls us: God's sparing mercy, his patience that gives us space, is meant to lead us to repentance. The purpose of his restraint is that we may turn; and to presume on his patience without repenting is to miss its purpose. This calls us to receive God's sparing love with gratitude and to let his patience lead us to repentance. God loves all he has made, spares in mercy, and gives space for repentance because he loves the living; and his sparing mercy toward us, even in our sin, is his love giving us room to turn. Let us not presume on this patience, but let his sparing love, which gives us space rather than destroying us at once, lead us to the repentance it is meant to produce, turning to the God who loves what he has made and spares it in mercy, that they may repent.

Do I imagine God as eager to condemn and quick to destroy, harsh toward sinners, or can the wonder that God, who could destroy in a moment, spares and shows mercy because he loves all he has made and abhors nothing he created, giving space that sinners may repent, assure me that God's heart toward me, even in my sin, is love, and move me to receive his sparing mercy with gratitude and to let his patience, which gives me room to turn, lead me to the repentance it is meant to produce?