"Evidence Of Mercy"

"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 

You may have fallen yesterday. You may have failed God. You may have missed the mark. But you aren't by yourself. Countless numbers of other people have- even in the Bible. Abraham missed it when he and his wife tried to help God out by devising their own plan to produce a son. David sinned when he committed adultery and tried to cover it up through murder. Elijah ran from Jezebel. The worst one I can think of was Peter when he denied Jesus.

 

But as you look at each of their lives, you will see that they weren't "consumed"- God didn't destroy them for their faults, failures or mistakes. Why? Because of His mercy. Like we said a few days ago, "He is out to get us"- not to destroy us, but because He loves us and wants us. Jesus told the story of a prodigal son that beautifully illustrated this point. What mercy, what compassion, what forgiveness, what love this father showed to his wayward son. The son had rebelled, had messed up, had rejected the father, had shamed him, he squandered what he had, had gone his own way, yet when he turned in repentance from going his way and turned toward his father, the father received him, embraced him and rejoiced over him. This was not just a story that Jesus told to get a point across, this was the picture of the Heavenly Father and His love for us- even when we are the ones who fail and rebel. 

 

Not only did Jesus tell the story to help us better understand the love and mercy of the Heavenly Father, but He Himself was the evidence that this is so through His death. The death of Jesus was all about the love, mercy, grace and compassion of the Heavenly Father toward mankind. It was all about His desire to have us as His own children. It was about making a way for us to be able to come back to Him when we sinned and when we fail. Evidently, the prodigal hoped that there would be a door of entrance that he could go through to get back to his father- and it was. There is a "door" that is opened to us through which we can get to the Father when we fail-- that door is Jesus. When we come in repentance, the door is wide open to us and we may enter in. 

 

Have a great day. Jesus is the evidence of God's mercy and the door by which we can enter into it. 

 

For further reading:

John 1:12; 10:7,9

Luke 15:11-32