Mercy! Mercy! Mercy!
Since the beginning of this year, I have become increasingly and overwhelmingly convicted of how much I need God's mercy literally every second of every day of my life. I have been a Christian walking with the Lord now for twenty years (since 1991), but although God has brought me through many personal trials and tribulations, I do not rest in and find comfort in those past victories in regards to my present and future state of sinfulness. The only thing I can rely on to get me through each passing moment of my life is God's undeserved and seemingly unending mercy. When I meditate on past and present sins, I have neither the inclination nor the desire to utter long-winded and eloquent prayers to God for forgiveness, but simply cry out and beg for His mercy to be extended to me again and again and again. One might naturally assume that the longer you walk with God, the more righteous you become, and hence need less and less of His mercy. But this was certainly not the case with the most celebrated saints in history who experienced more intimacy with God than we can ever hope to attain, and yet they drank deeper and deeper from the fountain of God's mercy as they grew in the knowledge of their own sinfulness in comparison to God. I am just beginning to learn that inescapable truth in my own relationship with Jesus. The closer He draws me to Himself, and the more of His holy presence I sense in my life, the more I am brought low to my knees in utter disdain and despair of my darkened deeds and polluted heart. I dare not bring to God's attention my own "righteousness" or my own "good works" when seeking forgiveness of my sins, but rather I rely solely and desperately on His awe-inspiring mercy, as the prophet Daniel said in a prayer to God, "We do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy" - Daniel 9:18. Let us never entertain thoughts or impressions of our own perceived worthiness when we kneel before the Most High seeking for forgiveness or even daily bread, but rather may we seek out His mercy as the sole distributor of everything good that comes from His gracious hands to our unworthy lives.
"A child of God keeps two books always by him: one to write his sins in, so that he may be humble; the other to write his mercies in, so that he may be thankful."
- Thomas Watson, The Godly Man's Picture, pg 132
Although being severely humbled by God's mercy is not itself a pleasant experience, one tremendously pleasant and joyful affect of God's mercy in our lives is the fruit of thankfulness that it produces in our hearts and conscience. As the 17th century Puritan Thomas Watson noted in the quote above, God's gracious mercy and our indebted thankfulness go hand-in-hand. Our outpouring of thankfulness to God in response to His mercy is as natural as a flower blooming when it is touched by the sun's life-giving rays. And just as it brings us great joy to receive God's mercy, so it brings God joy to extend His mercy to us, as Micah 7:18 states, "Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy." Let us be forever grateful not only for the mercy itself, but for the joy it brings to God's own heart to grant that same mercy to us. As Thomas Watson writes, "God loves to bestow his mercies where there is the best echo of thankfulness."
Do you rely on God's mercy every morning He awakens you to a new day? Do you literally walk in His mercy with each step He allows you to take in your life? Or do you only seek out God's mercy during the most troublesome times in your life, and ignore it the remainder of your days? If you seldom live in conscious knowledge of God's continual mercy over you, then I fear your thankfulness to Him will be just as seldom. Therefore, let us hunger after God's mercy and allow it to simultaneously create in us a heart of solemn thankfulness. Let us glory only in our God's infinite and precious mercy, which is an absolute necessity to our continued existence. Thomas Watson concludes, "We have been made to swim in a sea of mercy."
"I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great."
- 2 Samuel 24:14
"May your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need."
- Psalm 79:8
"Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy."
- Habakkuk 3:2
"Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"
- Luke 18:38
