"O my God, lean down and listen to me. Open your eyes and see our despair....We make this plea, not because we deserve help, but because of your mercy."
- Dan. 9:9, NLT
Mercy: compassion, forgiveness. From a legal standpoint this term indicates an act of pardon. The releasing of an offense to one totally undeserving. We find this in the acts of compassion and grace of God toward his children, and we see it in forms of compassion and grace extended from one human to another.
At some point in our lives we have been rendered the recipient of mercy, not because it was deserved but simply because it was given. That's what mercy is really....a gift. I could write a book on the merciful actions of God and others given on my behalf. You would think it would make me a better person, that it would somehow make me more merciful to others who have offended me....but it sometimes does not. What is it about an offense that makes me just want to get even? Why do I want to punish the offender...make them pay as it were? Why do I still tend to nurse an unforgiving heart when I have been shown so much mercy in my life?
What is wrong with me?!! It is a self-righteous spirit that rears its' ugly head when I'm wronged. I have a bent toward a..."See, I told you so" attitude. Yet, I know my own weaknesses, my own failings, my own dark secrets. I think it makes me feel superior to the one in request of my mercy. They wronged me, I lost sleep over it, so now I am going to dangle them over the fire a little bit and then forgive them later....make them sweat a little just so they know how much it hurts....is it just me that does this? Am I the only tainted saint out there? What to do about this?
First, I am in need of forgiveness for being like this. There's a heart problem, big time. I need God....I need God because I am sick. My disease is sin. I need God to live through me for it is not in my nature to be compassionate....I need his compassion. It is not in me to be forgiving, I need his forgiveness. I don't know how to be merciful....I need his mercy. My flesh screams for justice when I am hurt by another....but my sense of justice is a far cry from God's. I need God. Period!!
The other side is I also know what it means to dangle over the fire by anothers' resistance to be merciful to me. I have offended many. I have hurt many. Some may never forgive. I know what it's like to lose sleep over my sinning against God and others. Chances are you do to. Being unmerciful is such a burden to carry. It isn't God's way for us.
What if God responded to me as I have responded to others regarding being merciful? What if I prayed, asked him to lean near and hear my cry of despair, my plea for mercy and he said, "No"? A man most miserable you wouldn't find anywhere than that. But he doesn't. His forgiveness, his mercy is without limitations and without conditions. He extends to us what we absolutely don't deserve. Does he discipline? Yes. The Word of God says he disciplines those whom he loves. But even his discipline is an act of mercy. He fights for our attention through his mercy. He won't give up on us. Even when we are in the fires of our own bad choices, He purges us, cleanses us. What a loving God!
I need a God-like character. Only he can give that to me. I pray when I die one of the things said of me is that I was compassionate, that I was freely forgiving....without limitations and without conditions. It is my prayer that whether I am bumped by blessing or offense all that flows from my heart is the love of Christ.I have a way to go on learning this lesson. Maybe I am the only one who struggles with this. If I am, put me on your prayer list for I desperately need it!
Richard, you are not alone, because we are all members of the human race. Please know this - you SHOWED your God-like character to me...TODAY, and it has made a huge difference in my day. Your unconditional acceptance of me is just a reflection of God's unconditional acceptance of all of His children. (And this feels strangely like a treehouse...)
ReplyDelete