Have Mercy!

Lesson One

The Lord is merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Psalm 103:8

I am delighted that this week we are letting our hearts dwell on His mercy. There is so much to love about our Lord, but His mercy is one of His most beautiful, unexplainable, and generous qualities. It is perhaps the attribute we need the most desperately.  His mercy envelopes us in the warmth of His love and carries us close to His breast like an infant, even when it is our sin that brings on hardship. Thank you, Lord.

The Hebrew root of this beautiful word “merciful” is “hesed,” and it means steadfast love. I have always paid close attention to what the Lord says about Himself. Who is better to explain to us the Lord’s nature and character than the Lord Himself? Over and over again, when the Lord describes Himself, He uses the word “merciful” and speaks of His steadfast love that we radically do not deserve (I Chronicles 16:334, Numbers 14;18, Psalms 136:1, 86:5, 25:6, etc.). When the Lord passes in front of Moses in Exodus 34:6, He uses these words:

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,

In Jeremiah 3:12, He says this about Himself:

“Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, “‘Return, faithless Israel, declares the Lord. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the Lord; I will not be angry forever.”

People who know the Lord intimately, like David, also use these words to describe Him:

Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.” 2 Samuel 24:14

And in Joel 2:13, the prophet writes this about Him:

… Return to the Lord your God,
    for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
    and he relents over disaster.

This week, we will bask in His mercy. The mercy of our Jehovah God is so beyond our ability to comprehend that we need to ask the Holy Spirit to explain it to us in the days to come, to ask Him to reveal it as only He can as words cannot approach describing His hesed. Let’s pray that the Holy Spirit takes us beyond understanding and that we will feel His mercy and acknowledge how it already exists in our lives. His mercy is everywhere. Let’s ask the Spirit to open our eyes and hearts to it like never before. Only He can teach us about God’s mercy.  

Lesson Two

When I was a little girl growing up in the South, we would spend a month each summer on my grandparents’ farm in rural north Georgia. There were beautiful rolling green pastures, a pond, and a big white porch just right for making ice cream for the grandkids. My grandmother’s name was Lily, but we called her Mama Bill. She was funny and loving and the best country cook I have ever known. To say she was hardworking does not do her justice. She was constantly doing wash and cleaning her house that was always pristine even though droves of adults and children were in and out constantly. Mama Bill fed all the local family every day at lunch as well as those who worked on the farm. This started with the wringing of the chicken’s neck and did not end until every dish was washed and her kitchen once again smelled soapy and clean. It was a labor of love, but it was labor. Mama Bill did it all as she sang bits and pieces of hymns under her breath as she worked.

In her spare time, my grandmother cashiered at my grandfather’s general store across the street from their home. Though most people thoughtfully pumped their own when she was on duty, she would also sometimes pump gas in between the cooking, scrubbing, and tending to grandchildren.

Mama Bill loved people and knowing all that was going on in her community, so that was a perk that went with her store duties. She wanted all the news. Neighbors would drop by the store or pop in to her inviting home and they would catch up on what was going on with this family or that. To a child like me who loved to eavesdrop, these were fascinating conversations about births and deaths, illnesses and graduations, engagements and fist fights. Throughout, when something alarming or threatening or sad was told, my grandmother’s response was always the same: “Lord, have mercy.” She must have said that at least a dozen times a day.

Later when I became a Christian, I was quite the Pharisee. I remember thinking that she was taking the Lord’s name in vain, and I do think that many people do when they use His name this way. But not my grandmother. Jesus was such a part of the fiber of her being, in her heart, under her breath, and always on her mind. When these words erupted from her, she really was talking to Her Jesus and asking Him for mercy.

Lately, with the war in Israel, threats of nuclear strikes, and terrorism at home, I find “Lord, have mercy” to be my constant prayer. I don’t know about you, but it seems that recently more of my friends and fellow church members are being taken down by the disease that Satan has brought into this world. When a friend tells me about her bladder cancer, another her tongue cancer, my other friend’s advanced Parkinson, another’s Lou Gherig’s disease, and the several with dementia, my automatic cry is “Lord, have mercy!” And now, like my grandmother, it is heartfelt and comes from the depths of my soul.

And then I am encouraged because I have God’s Word that He will show mercy and that He wants to be generous with it. Here are some of the verses that encourage me:

First, He wants to show mercy to me. He tells me that I can have confidence to approach His throne. I am redeemed, a child of the king, part of the family of Jesus Christ, and through His blood am entitled to come before Him and confidently ask for His mercy: Hebrews 4:16

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16

Secondly, thanks to His redeeming blood and the gift of salvation, I do not have the impossible burden of righteousness. I don’t have to strive and fret. When I fall short and sin, as I often do, He will show me His mercy anyway, totally undeserved:

. . . he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:5

Also, His mercy is generous and flows like a fountain covering every aspect of my life, yours, and everything that is going on in the world. When the Bible tells us to think on good things, mercy is one of the good things we can fasten our minds on, especially when we watch the news.

As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me;
your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me! Psalm 25:6-7

Finally, as we leave this study time, let’s go out full of joy and peace because all day long, his goodness and mercy will be trailing after us, be all around us, and will go before us.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
     all the days of my life, Psalm 23:6
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
     forever. Read More

I am leaving you today with a wonderful, encouraging chapter to read, Ephesians 2.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body^[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.^[b] 4 But^[c] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

One in Christ

¹¹ Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— ¹² remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility ¹⁵ by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, ¹⁶ and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. ¹⁷ And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹ So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,^[d] but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. ²² In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by^[e] the Spirit.

Footnotes

Ephesians 2:3 Greek flesh

Ephesians 2:3 Greek like the rest

Ephesians 2:4 Or And

Ephesians 2:19 Or sojourners

Ephesians 2:22 Or in

Lesson Three:

Today, we are going to look at some questions some people have asked about mercy and see what the Bible says about them.

Question: Mercy is a total win for me, but is God that excited about it? It seems it is all giving on His part.

The Lord is even more excited about giving you mercy than you are to receive it. It is His nature, His lovely, generous, resplendent nature. His ways are not our ways, so humans may not understand how He can and will give and give and give. In fact, He can hardly wait! Isaiah tells us that He waits on us!!!

• Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you,
       and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.
  For the LORD is a God of justice;
       blessed are all those who wait for him  Isaiah 30:18

The Lord has to wait on us because we are sometimes slow to accept His direction, love, and mercy. He has to wait on us because He is looking for just the right time to show His graciousness to us. H will choose the peak time for our growth, our needs that He knows in advance, and for His purposes for the rest of the world.

Yes, the Lord can hardly wait to show you mercy today:

• As for you, O Lord, you will not restrain your mercy from me;
  your steadfast love and your faithfulness will ever preserve me! Psalm 40:11

Question: Will His mercy run out?

No! God’s mercy is bountiful. He is a God who does not grow tired or has limits on His capacity. In fact, His mercies are renewed and refreshed every morning:

• The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
        his mercies never come to an end;
  they are new every morning;
        great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23
• Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God. Nehemiah 9:31

Question: What do I have to do to see His mercy in my life?

First of all, the Lord goes to great lengths to tell us that His mercy is a gift and that our works have nothing to do with it. God does not show you mercy because of who you are but because of Who He is. It is in His character to show mercy and it draws glory to Him. He wants your love, your companionship, and your acceptance of His will:

• Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love,
  for they have been from of old.
  Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
  according to your steadfast love remember me,
  for the sake of your goodness, O Lord! Psalm 25:6-7

• For I desire steadfast love^[a] and not sacrifice,
      the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Hosea 6:6
• Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, I Peter 1:3

Our salvation through Jesus Christ alone qualifies us for mercy as a free gift:

• But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. Romans 5:15

However, even though we cannot earn our salvation or His mercy, the Lord has some very definite practices related to mercy. First of all, we must be one of His children. We have to confess our sins, ask His forgiveness, repent of those sins, and accept the free gift of salvation.

Confess and cry out to Him:

• Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. Proverbs 28:13

• Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
  O Lord, hear my voice!
  Let your ears be attentive
  to the voice of my pleas for mercy!2 Corinthians 12:9

• Have mercy on me, O God,
  according to your steadfast love;
  according to your abundant mercy
  blot out my transgressions.
  Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
  and cleanse me from my sin!

Accept His free gift of salvation and mercy and believe His promises:

• For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever

believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

• For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him. 2 Chronicles 30:9b

• Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
  and passing over transgression
  for the remnant of his inheritance?
  He does not retain his anger forever,
  because he delights in steadfast love.Micah 7:18

Lesson Four

After receiving mercy, what should I do?

It is always a good time to praise and thank God, but after He has shown you mercy (pretty much every day) is a great time. From stories like the nine lepers, we know that the Lord notices who comes back and gives Him thanks. David truly knew the mercy of God and his song overflows with the gratitude and appreciation of God’s character and all He has done for him in Psalm 103.

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and all that is within me,
    bless his holy name!
² Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits,
³ who forgives all your iniquity,
    who heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit,
    who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
⁵ who satisfies you with good
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

⁶ The Lord works righteousness
    and justice for all who are oppressed.
⁷ He made known his ways to Moses,
    his acts to the people of Israel.
⁸ The Lord is merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Psalm 103:1-8

Question: Any advice going forward?

You don’t have to pay God back or live in fear of breaking the rules, but God definitely has His likes and dislikes. He would love to see you show mercy to someone undeserving in your life:

• Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Matthew 5:7

• For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Matthew 6:14

And finally, God loves humble people. An excellent example of a humble person is Mary, whom God chose to be the mother of Jesus Christ. She models the gratitude and humility we have been talking about in the Magnificat, her response to Gabriel’s news that she is to give birth to the Messiah. When she says “his mercy is for those who fear him,” she is talking about the fear that makes one quake in His presence in awe and in absolute acknowledgment of His power, splendor, and omnipotence.

Mary’s Song of Praise: The Magnificat

⁴⁶ And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
⁴⁷     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
⁴⁸ for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
    For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
⁴⁹ for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
    and holy is his name.
⁵⁰ And his mercy is for those who fear him
    from generation to generation.
⁵¹ He has shown strength with his arm;
    he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
⁵² he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
    and exalted those of humble estate;
⁵³ he has filled the hungry with good things,
    and the rich he has sent away empty.
⁵⁴ He has helped his servant Israel,
    in remembrance of his mercy,
⁵⁵ as he spoke to our fathers,
    to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” Luke 1:46-55

Lesson Five

In this lesson, I will share a teaching from a pastor I have used for research for years, Ray Stedman. I hope you enjoy His sound, unpretentious teachings from this widely respected theologian. In prayer, I believe the Lord is leading me to share weekly from other theologians who have shaped my understanding of God’s Holy Word.

Read Psalm 51:1-19 (reprinted at the end of today’s lesson)

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

Psalm 51:1-2 NIV

What a marvelous understanding of the nature of sin and the character of God’s forgiveness is found in these verses! There are three things David asks for. First, he understands that sin is like a crime. If criminals are to be delivered from the effects of their crime, they do not need justice but mercy. Sin is an illegal act, a violation of justice, and an act of lawlessness and rebellion and therefore requires mercy.

Then he says, Blot out my transgressions, and thereby he reveals that he understands sin is like a debt. It is something owed, an account that has accumulated and needs to be erased.

Finally he cries, Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. He understands that sin is like an ugly stain, a defilement upon the soul. Even though the act fades into the past, the dirty defiling stain remains a stigma upon the heart. So he cries out and asks to be delivered from these things.

Notice that David understands well the basis for forgiveness. He asks on the basis of two things: first, according to your unfailing love. He understands that he himself deserves nothing from God, that God is not bound to forgive him. Some people are never able to realize forgiveness because they think they deserve it, that God owes it to them. But David knows better. He realizes that only because of God’s love may he even approach God to ask. On the basis of that unqualified acceptance, that marvelous continuing love-that-will-not-let-me-go, he says to God, I am coming to you and asking now for this.

Second, as David appeals to God according to your great compassion, he again indicates his understanding of the character of God. God is not a penny pincher; He does not dole out bits of mercy, drop by drop. No, He pours it out. His are abundant mercies. When God forgives, He forgives beyond our utmost imaginings. Two figures of speech that are used in the Old Testament depict the forgiveness of God. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:12). How far is that? Well, how far do you have to go east before you start going west? You never come to west. Then God says He will hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19). Someone has added that he puts up a sign that reads NO FISHING. Do not go down there and try to fish old sins out once God has dealt with them. What relief comes when we begin to understand this fullness of God’s forgiveness.

Father, thank You that I can come to You with my sin and cry out for mercy and love. Your love is steadfast; your mercy is abundant. I trust that You are always willing to forgive.

https://www.raystedman.org/daily-devotions/psalms/a-cry-for-mercy  October 23

Psalm 51

English Standard Version

Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

51 Have mercy on me,^[a] O God,
    according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
    blot out my transgressions.
² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
    and cleanse me from my sin!

³ For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is ever before me.
⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
    and blameless in your judgment.
⁵ Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
    and in sin did my mother conceive me.
⁶ Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
    and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
    wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins,
    and blot out all my iniquities.
¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and renew a right^[b] spirit within me.
¹¹ Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and uphold me with a willing spirit.

¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    and sinners will return to you.
¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
    O God of my salvation,
    and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶ For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
    you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

¹⁸ Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
    build up the walls of Jerusalem;
¹⁹ then will you delight in right sacrifices,
    in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
    then bulls will be offered on your altar.