God is Merciful

The Lord is gracious and merciful;

Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.

-Psalms 145:8

Moment of Mercy

There is one moment in my life that sticks out the most as my moment of receiving mercy from another human. It was my senior year of college where I was studying Marine Biology at Palm Beach Atlantic University. At that point I was knee deep in classes for my major and my minor in ministry leadership, as well as serving in a “volunteer staff” position at my church and working a local job at a substance abuse clinic to pay for college. To say I live in constant self-created overwhelm is maybe an understatement. There was one required class that I struggled in the most: Ichthyology (for those who don’t know, that literally means the study of fish). I am horrible at memorizing the names of all those types of fish. I did everything I could do to get those little fish names stuck in my head. I made slide shows, flash cards, watched videos, and read my book over and over and over.

Then came the final. I felt mostly prepared having worked so hard pouring over the photos of live fish examples. I walked into the room, took a breath, and my heart stopped. The photos we had to identify were black and white line drawing examples of various fish. I panicked. The panic made my brain freeze. This is NOT what I prepared for. I failed that test.

After the test, I walked out defeated. A couple of days later I met with my advisor who was also my Ichthyology professor. We talked about what happened on the test. I showed him my slides and flash cards and sat on the verge of tears in front of him worried I would not be able to graduate from my failure in this one class. But that teacher showed me mercy. Instead of giving me a failing grade, which was rightly deserved, and making me retake the course, he chose to give me an, albeit barely, passing grade. I don’t think I will ever forget the feeling of gratitude I had to that man when I saw my end grade. He still stands as one of my heroes.

God’s mercy

Mercy is imbedded into God’s characters. In the Old Testament the word mercy (checdh) can be translated as loving kindness. This loving kindness fuels his forgiveness for our sins.

Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness(mercy) and truth- Exodus 34:6-7

We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.- James 5:11

Over and over again we see God dealing with the people in the Bible mercifully. We as humans deserve death from our sins (Romans 6:23). But God withholds that death to give us not just second chances, but thirds, fourths, fifths, and billionths. He gives us life, and we disobey. He gives us family, and we hate our brother. He gives us a Lord and we ask for an earthly king. He gives us rules and we break them. Yet each time we are not met with the full wrath of God, but rather loving kindness meant to guide us back into a relationship with him.

Mercy is not giving what is deserved. It is giving forgiveness instead of vengeance. It is living for our future best instead of living in our present distress. It has the end goal of resolution and reconciliation in mind. It’s what allows healing in a broken situation. When we receive Mercy for our bad deeds, it paves the way for grace to move in.

I will sing of lovingkindness and justice,

To You, O Lord, I will sing praises.

Psalms 101:1

Just a quick note, but mercy does not mean Justice is not served. Marcie wrote a beautiful post last week of God’s justice. We need to remember that while the greatest punishment is not served due to mercy, consequences remain. At some point, the mercy of God has its limits. We are not always exempt from punishment and consequences related to our sin. He will not take away all pain due to his mercy. There is a balance built in love. We die. We get sick. We fight amongst each other. We lose opportunities. While God works hard to keep us at our best, sometimes part of that love is guiding us back on the right path through hardships, trials, and consequences.

One of our gifts is the power of free will. Too many times, in our own free willed fleshly make decision, we do things that cause consequences that come about from a broken world filled with sin. Just because I stick my hand onto a hot stove, doesn’t mean God is going to save me the burn. The burn is part of the learning experience to know right from wrong. There are many times that it is loving kindness to allow a consequence to happen so that we can learn and come back to the arms of our father. He is the only one who is wise enough to hold the world in balance. Balancing mercy, grace, and justice all in one breath.

Mercy for the world

My teacher lived out God’s loving kindness. He recently passed away and the number of lives he influenced due to his showing of biblical character was mind blowing.

He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? -Micah 6:8

The more we can show mercy to each other, and love one another, the better this world and our lives in turn would be. I see this needed more and more each day. I see it when my friends are fighting with each other instead of choosing to see the best in one another. I see it on Facebook when people get offended by each other's words and thoughts. I see it in the news as we chose to act in anger instead of love.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy- Matthew 5:7

Closing:

God first shows us mercy on the daily. Allowing us life and room for good to enter into our situations is enough to prove he has a loving kind hand. We deserve to have nothing left in our lives, but God chooses to see through our muck to see the diamonds within. In turn, as we accept his mercy, we need to extend loving kindness to the world around us. When you show the mercy from God to others you will start to see good enter back into your situations. You can’t choose what other people will do to you, but you can choose how you will respond and treat others. When we choose to look for the good, forgive things that go wrong, and withhold our own judgements, we leave room and space for healing and hope.

Prayer:

Merciful Father-

Reveal to us what punishments were meant for us. Help us to see the darkness and pain we deserve so that we can be reminded of how good your mercy is. You alone are a merciful God. Your forgiveness is underserving. I thank you Lord for your loving kindness every day. I thank you for seeing the good in me and bringing life and light to my darkened heart. Give me the strength today to give out the same mercy that I so freely receive. Show me the situation I need to restore and the forgiveness I need to give.

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Hey sweet lady, we want to take a quick minute to guide your next steps with the scripture and application portion. We believe that in order to truly grow closer to God, we need to spend time dwelling on what he’s trying to teach us and not rush through it. We encourage you to spend a full week dwelling on this devotional and all it has to offer you. That means you can save some of the scripture passages for another day or re-read them in the week. We also encourage you to take your time with the application portion. You can sit in each prompt until you feel God revealing his truths to you. Don’t rush, take time to truly get to know him better by sitting in what he’s trying to teach you this week. That's where your faith will grow.

Scripture for Deeper Study:

• Romans 9

• Isaiah 43:14-44:5

• Proverbs 3:3

Application:

• Journal where you have seen mercy from either another person or God.

• Write Proverbs 3:3 10 times in your journal to help you memorize it and keep it on your heart.

• Practice mercy this week with your family. When your children disobey a rule, instead of handing out a punishment, immediately forgive and redirect towards a good choice. Journal how this went for your family either good or bad.

• Think about who you might need to reconcile with and extend more mercy to in your life.