A. To love means to be forgiving:

PRO 10:12. Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.

1PE 4:8. And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

B. God is merciful to us:

NUM 14:18. The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.

NUM 14:19. Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.

PSA 103:8. The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

PSA 103:10. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

PSA 103:11. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

LAM 3:22. It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

LAM 3:23. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

ISA 63:7. I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD, and the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses.

2SA 24:14. And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.

ISA 54:7. For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.

ISA 54:8. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

PSA 25:6. Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old.

PSA 36:7. How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.

PSA 40:11. Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.

PSA 69:16. Hear me, O LORD; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.

PSA 103:2. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

PSA 103:3. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;

PSA 103:4. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;

PSA 119:149. Hear my voice according unto thy lovingkindness: O LORD, quicken me according to thy judgment.

JER 9:24. But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.

C. God loves mercy more than justice & retribution:

MIC 7:18. Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.

MAT 9:13. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

HOS 6:6. For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

JAM 2:13. For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

ROM 5:20. Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

PRO 16:6. By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.

D. He often refrains from justly punishing us:

EXO 32:14. And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.

PSA 103:9. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.

PSA 103:10. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

PSA 130:3. If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?

PSA 130:4. But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.

2SA 24:16. And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.

GEN 18:20. And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;

GEN 18:23. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

GEN 18:24. Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?

GEN 18:25. That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

GEN 18:26. And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.

JON 1:1. Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

JON 1:2. Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

JON 3:10. And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

JON 4:11. And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more then sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle

E. God mercifully forgives our sins:

PSA 103:12. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

ISA 1:18. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

MIC 7:19. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

ISA 43:25. I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

ISA 44:22. I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.

HEB 8:12. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

PSA 32:1. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

PSA 32:2. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

ISA 38:17. Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.

F. God is especially merciful to those who love & fear Him:

EXO 20:6. And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

DEU 7:9. Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;

PSA 103:11. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

PSA 103:13. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.

PSA 103:17. But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;

LUK 7:47. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

LUK 7:48. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.