Living Hope

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
   his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
"The LORD is my portion," says my soul,
    "therefore I will hope in him."

Lamentations 3:22-24 (ESV)

Have Mercy!  Remember the childhood game of "Mercy," where two players would face each other, grasp hands with palms together and push with all their might, trying to force the other's wrist back?  When the pain became unbearable, a player would declare defeat by yelling, "Mercy" and hope their opponent would let go, thus relieving the pain.  Unfortunately, children (or adults for that matter) do not always have compassion for those under their power and would sometimes continue the pressure, thus prolonging the pain.  There were some kids everyone knew to stay away from when it came to playing Mercy!

Give Thanks Thankfully, the Lord our God does not have this same characteristic.  He is a God of mercy, many times not giving what we deserve, or withholding punishment we have earned.  In this season of Thanksgiving, I want to give thanks for our God of mercy.

His Mercy is Great  David knew well of God's mercy as he had received it countless times.  Later in his reign,  David made the mistake of taking a census to see how many troops he possessed, forgetting what he had believed as a lad with five smooth stones and a sling standing foolishly against a giant. At that time, when Saul told him how absurd it was for a mere boy to go against the mighty warrior of Goliath, David proclaimed, "The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” (1Samuel 17:37)  After the census incident, David confessed his foolishness of depending on the might of his army instead of his God, and the Lord gave him three options for punishment.  Either his people would suffer three years of famine, he would run from his enemies for three months, or there would be three days of plagues in the land.  David replied, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into human hands.” (2 Samuel 24:14)  David knew the Lord is a God of mercy and would rather put himself into God's hands rather than mans'. 

Mercy is His  The Israelites experienced the mercy of God many times while wandering in the desert.  They were described by God as a "stiff-necked people," constantly turning away from Him and to their own wicked ways.  On one particular occasion, when Moses returned from the mountain with the Ten Commandments, the people were worshipping a golden calf and God's anger burned against them, desiring to kill the entire nation of Israel and start over with Moses.  God relented, for His own namesake and to preserve His promise, and instead punished them with a plague for their sin.  Then, He reminded Moses that,"I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." (Exodus 33:19) Mercy belongs to God, and only He decides when He uses it.  I must always remember that I live in a constant state of being at God's mercy.

Mercy Brings Hope   The greatest act of mercy God ever committed was in sending His Son to die on the cross, taking the punishment we deserve for our sins.  The apostle Peter understood this well, as evidenced by the opening lines of his first letter to the believers scattered throughout the land during the time of the early church.  He wrote, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade." (1 Peter 1:3-4)  We now have the hope of heaven and a relationship with a holy God thanks to this great act of mercy!

Mercy of a Loving God  I can never thank God enough for the mercy He has shown me.  I like how English poet, lawyer and priest John Donne described the mercy of God.  "We are God's tenants here, and yet here he, our landlord, pays us rents-not yearly, nor quarterly, but hourly and quarterly; every minute he renews his mercy."  Everything we hold dear; our life, health, family, friends, are all due to God's great mercies!

As I begin this day and prepare for Thanksgiving, it is my prayer that I can keep God's mercies fresh in my mind, retaining a spirit of thankfulness throughout the day.

Where have I held an attitude of entitlement, expecting mercy where it is not mine to assume?

How have I been unmerciful to others?