A CUP OF COLD WATER

 

 God's Enduring Mercy 

In many verses in the Holy Bible, we read of God's enduring mercy to us. For example, the first three verses of Psalm 136 tell us to give thanks to God because of his enduring mercies. We also read the same in Psalm 106:1, Jeremiah 33:11, 1 Chronicles 16:34, Ezra 3:11, Psalm 107:1 and Psalm 118:1, just to cite a few verses. Mercy refers to God's loyal love for us, His compassion for and forbearance with us. Enduring mercy means that God has positioned Himself in a lasting state of showing us mercy and loving kindness at all times. If you want to know how great His mercy towards us is, Psalm 103, verse 11, says: 'For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him'; and Psalm 145, verse 8 says: ‘He is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy’. If you want to know how enduring His mercy is to us, Psalm 103, verse 10 says: ‘He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities’. He is ever ready to forgive us when we confess and repent of our sins, and He moves them out of our way.

God shows us mercy because that is His nature. He shows us mercy because of His covenant with us. It is because of His great mercy to humanity that He gave us salvation to an everlasting hope through Jesus Christ. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ made a way for us to be reconciled to God, and as many as choose to be reconciled to God, will enjoy His mercy. God also shows us mercy by delivering us from evil and the evil one. It is because of the Lord's mercy and loving kindness that we are not consumed by evil (Lamentations 3:20). His mercy is everlasting and available to us and our generations.

Seeing that God has postured Himself to show us enduring mercy, how should we respond to this great mercy? We must choose to be steadfast in our faith in God. We must not lose heart, we must make God our ‘all-in-all’ and we must tell others about His great mercy to us.

In our day-to-day living, we should be mindful of God's word in the Holy Bible and make sure we are following His commands. In Psalm 119, verse 10, King David said: 'Your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against You'. When we know His word and have it always before us, it becomes our guide, our compass, to show us the right way to go about our daily lives. Living in this way helps us to fulfil another part of Scriptures which says that we are to be ‘living sacrifices’ to God. We are to be patient through all the vicissitudes of life knowing that God has promised to show us mercy. When we innocently offend or are offended, His mercy is available. When we deliberately offend or are offended, His mercy is also available, and He decides the consequences of our disobediences.

So we should not loose heart but continue to ask Him to teach us His precepts and to show us His ways. Moses, in the Holy Bible, knew God’s ways (Psalm 103:7), so He was able to warn the people that their actions would elicit a certain response from God. He told them that if they forsook God, their enemies would conquer them because he knew that God had commanded His people not to serve another God. Moses also knew that God is slow to anger, therefore he warned the people not to take God’s silence as approval of the wrongs they were doing. He also knew that God’s anger is momentary but His love lasts forever, hence He could plead with God on behalf of His people when they were about to face His punishment for their sins.

Making God our ‘all-in-all’ means to acknowledge Him in everything and look to Him to order our steps and direct our paths. When God is our ‘all-in-all’, we submit to Him with absolute trust knowing that He will do the best for us. We consider Him first, before any other person or thing. We value His opinion in all matters, even when we do not understand our circumstances or their outcomes. We realise that without Him we can do nothing of eternal importance.

Our gratitude to God for His great and enduring mercy makes us want to tell others what His great mercy means to us and encourage them to also put their trust in Him. His great mercy gave me salvation. Whereas I was living a life that was alienated from God, my belief in Jesus Christ as my Saviour in 1985 reconciled me to God. Now I have eternal life, which means that I can live my life under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who lives in me and helps me live my life successfully, and when my time on earth is over, I continue living with God forever. This great mercy of God is available to all who come to Jesus believing Him for salvation. I trust that if you are yet to come to Jesus, you will take that step today. That will be the best decision you have ever made.