Mercy
“The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.” (Psalm 103:8)
“It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.” (Lamentations 3:22)
“Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” (Matthew 5:7)
I don’t know about you but I am so glad we serve a merciful God who, in spite of being holy, is also compassionate. I’ve been reading the Prophetic books of the Bible and I’m amazed that, even when His people would disobey Him and He had to punish them, He still longed for them to turn around, to stop worshiping idols so that He could take them back into His arms and continue to walk with them. The choice was theirs but so many times they had to learn the hard way.
In a lot of ways, things haven’t changed through the years. As rebellious children, we are always trying to get away with however much we think we can. We do the bare minimum we think we need to do to call ourselves a Christian but our self-righteous works don’t please the Father at all. If we haven’t given Christ everything, we haven’t given Him anything. He longs for us to truly turn to Him, to lay down our idols and our pleasures for His. He waits patiently until finally He allows trials to come. Sometimes that helps for a while as we realize we can’t make it without Him. As things begin to get better, however, we once again decide that we’re really in charge of our own lives. Even if we would never say it out loud, we act as if He is of no consequence. When will we learn?
I don’t want to take advantage of His mercy but I want to receive it and then share it with others. I want to run to Him, take His hand and never look back. I want to show the world that God CAN make a difference in their lives. He CAN grant them joy and peace and love and, yes, even mercy and forgiveness. All they have to do is repent and turn to Him and He is there waiting. Thank You, Lord, for Your mercy!
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