Preaching a few Sundays ago on ”Blessed are the merciful" got me thinking about mercy as I took my walks this week. I preached on it, but maybe I didn’t acknowledge even then how important mercy is. It is one of the eight beatitudes of Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount. Why that?
I was also listening to the Bible as I walked and I heard the words of 1 Chronicles 16:34, “O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.” I put those two ideas together: “merciful” and God’s mercy endures forever. Look at that verse again. You can read Psalm 118 and Psalm 136, where it says it again and again. Those psalms super emphasize that same truth.
The English word “mercy” is found 276 times in the King James Version. I would say that means mercy is very important, especially that God is a God of mercy. Good is all around us, but there is nothing better for us, nothing, than the mercy of God. We don’t even fathom how much God hates sin and how much it offends His holy nature.
Habakkuk 1:13 says about God, “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil.” He can’t even behold evil. Yet, God withholds from men the punishment for sin, and that’s even before salvation. No one would make it to his salvation without the mercy of God. Then after God saves a person, he does not live sinless perfection.
You reader do not live sinless perfection. Yet God doesn’t kill you immediately for that. Mercy should motivate surrender to Jesus Christ. Then once someone receives Jesus Christ, God’s mercy is far, far more than enough to sustain constant living for God, faithfulness to Him and His Word, and continuous love for Him. Think mercy. Mercy, mercy, mercy.