The Lord’s mercy

Key verse: Psalms 107:1

O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Read: Romans 9:14-24

When the Bible says the mercy of God endures forever, it has different connotations but it is important to hold on to the right one. To some, mercy is always available no matter what and therefore, they assume they may continue deliberately in sin till they are fully spent and then ask for mercy, since it’s always there. How so wrong! To those who know God, it means that from generation to generation God’s mercy never wanes.

Mercy means compassion or forbearance shown particularly to an offending person. God is merciful unto all generation devoid of creed, race or color for as long as we turn genuinely to Him in repentance. His mercy is also not automatic. There are qualifications for mercy. For instance, it is those who are merciful that obtains mercy. Remember the unfaithful servant in Jesus’ parable? Although his master forgave him humongous debt, he refused to forgive his colleague a menial debt. His foolishness made him forfeit the master’s mercy. So is God in His dealings. Anyone who cannot show mercy does not deserve mercy. Also, mercy is God’s absolute prerogative. He determines who to show mercy to. For example, while Esau and Jacob were yet fetuses, God had mercy on Jacob and not on Esau. Reason simply is that the clay cannot ask the mortar why mold me thus? Mercy can however be obtained by seeking God’s face for it. When David sinned and he realized his folly, so as not to perish, he sought God’s face for mercy. You can also obtain mercy from God regarding that situation that you feel so terrible about.

The Lord is appeased when He encounters godly sorrow. Nevertheless, you cannot assume if you continue to commit sin afterwards particularly deliberately that you can just keep walking in to God and obtain mercy. It does not work like that. At a point the merciful One may get fed up with your tantrums like He did that of Saul. Samuel was seeking God’s face in intercession for Saul whereas Saul continued unabashed and God asked Samuel: how long will you keep harassing me with the matter of Saul seeing that I already rejected him? May the Lord not be tired of you in Jesus name. Watch the way you handle the subject of mercy. It is delicate.

Pray: Father, I covet your mercy for it is by it I have not been consumed. Please keep me as a candidate of your mercy never to cause you to reject me no matter what in Jesus name.