It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23 KJV
Every day, I learn more about God and the mysteries of the ways He deals with man. You can walk with God for 30 years, and yet, in an instant, He can show you a side of Him that will suprise and amaze you and sometimes dismay you. There are no guarantees that because you are on assignment for God, your path will be easy and without stress. There is nowhere God promises such, and it will be folly to expect such from God.
Men in the Bible who walked with God had days of dismay. Elijah ran when threatened by Jezebel, even though he had just dealt a mortal blow on the worship of Ashtoreth and Baal. We see here Jeremiah, a prophet, used mightily by God, yet in seasons of despair and pain. Some of the words he used in the chapter where today's extract is taken from are pretty harsh: compared God with a lion; a bear; an archer with arrows; one who takes prisoners and maltreats them. If this were mortal man described like this, we would most likely take offence and lash out, but we deal with a God who deals with us in some pretty amazingly merciful ways. I am yet to see where God killed a man for questioning Him or for highlighting doubts. God always comes through with responses, sometimes that will help me understand what is going on, or to comfort me that God knows what He is doing, even if I don't know how.
If I stopped at the tale of woes, I wouldn't understand the context of today's extract. The writer had seen bad days, but there was this ONE thing that kept him sane, and it was the unfailing mercies of God. This limited space can never be enough to explain the concept of God's mercy, but let us first define mercy, without the God in it. Mercy is 'compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm'. In essence, I, the one receiving the mercy deserved punishment for some wrong thing done, but someone with the power to exact due punishment decided to waive it and take away the due debt. It didn't take away the fact that I did wrong, but it meant that my debt for the wrong had been forgiven. Now, combine this definition with who God is, and you get a picture of a God whose love for man is such that knows no bounds.
It is His mercy that keeps me away from the consequences of my own actions. His nature is consistent; He leaves me in no doubt as to what His expectations for my life are, and He also supplies all that I need to be able to align with his expectations. He knows that I will fail or fall sometimes, but that doesn't change who He is, because it is His nature to be merciful. My faithfulness is not the reason why He is merciful; it is because of His mercy that I even stand a chance at life. And his mercy knows no limits. It is not subject to human whims and caprices, but it is based on the eternal love of an eternal God. And it is not based on times and seasons; God is not like the unpredictable weather. Every morning, I experience a renewal of His mercy and kindness. Every day is a reminder of who God is, who I am, and what I have been graciously given. The best I can do is to live a life that shows gratitude for all I have received. I must not take the mercies of God for granted, and excuse sin. God's mercy is great, and his forgiveness is total, but it doesn't excuse iniquity. God, help me to live a life of total appreciation of all you have done for me. His time of favour is here.
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