Mercy By Statute

“I intreated thy favour with [my] whole heart: be merciful unto me according to thy word.” (Ps 119:58 AV)

The writer is not seeking mercy without context.  Mercy cannot violate the holiness of God.  There are certain things that would frustrate God’s mercy.  Unrepentance would probably top that list.  Presumption might be another.  Or mercy without asking for it may not happen either.  This is a great misunderstanding among modern Christendom.  Professing believers are misled into believing that God is all grace and mercy to the extent that He takes no care over the condition or motive of anyone.  The greatest harm to blessed life is the mantra, “God loves us just the way we are”.  That is so wrong!  God loves us in spite of the way we are.  He wants to change who and what we are into the likeness of His Son.  The condition above is to seek the LORD with the whole heart.  That suggests a heart that is right with God, or at the very least, sincerely desires to be right with God.  The indication that our writer is in this frame of mind is seeking only that mercy which is according to His word.

There are certain things God does not allow when it comes to granting His mercy.  David and Bathsheba are great examples.  They had an affair, and as a result, a son was born.  The LORD struck the child with illness as soon as he made his appearance.  David responded as any father would.  He fasted and prayed.  He sought mercy for his son and his wife.  He asked the LORD for his son’s life.  This went on for seven days.  David never arose from his spot.  Every waking moment was filled with prayer.  He never ate.  He seldom slept.  He neither changed clothes nor bathed.  He remained on his knees, begging God for his son’s life.  After seven days, the baby died.  From David’s perspective, mercy never came.  He lost his son.  Why didn’t God answer David?  Even after he had repented, God still required the life of the child.  Some suppose that the LORD would not allow two people the blessings that came from adultery.  The fruits of sin are meant to be a curse.  Not a blessing.  This isn’t always the case.  Some enjoy the blessings of a birth consummated under less than righteous circumstances.  For whatever reason, the LORD does not require the lives of those children.  We may never know why.  What we do know is that David sought mercy, and God did not grant it.  Mercy was contingent on something.

The writer is not asking for mercy separate and apart from his condition or situation.  He may very well be asking for mercy and grace found in forgiveness.  What we do know is that the writer is not presumptuous.  He is not asking for the grace of God as if he is entitled.  No one is entitled to the mercy and grace of God.  What we need is the wisdom of expectations.  What is it that we want God to do, and does it violate His nature?  Exactly what is it that we are seeking, and will His character allow for it?  Mercy is the unspeakable gift from God.  But it does have principles by which it is applied.  This does not suggest mercy is earned.  If it were, then it wouldn’t be mercy.  Mercy is granted because we cannot obtain it.  That is why it is mercy.  Yet, mercy must be according to the word of God.

The Fear of Reproach

“Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgments [are] good. Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness.” (Ps 119:39-40 AV)

It is a good thing to fear reproach.  It is often one foundation for victory over sin.  Longing after the laws of the word of God is a good start.  But there has to be a turning away.  Our writer is not implying that he is currently suffering reproach for the choices he has made.  Although he probably is.  Everyone does.  Rather, he has been down this road a few times and knows what reproach is.  He knows that if he messes up, there will be a lot of opinions coming his way.  Some from with.  Some from without.  Some justified.  Some unwarranted.  Reproach is a thing of life.  It is a curse we bear for disobedience toward God.  It is not comfortable.  It is not meant to be comfortable.  The solution is to be quickened in righteousness.  That means to be made spiritually alive.  The saint who overcomes sin must desire the quickening from righteousness more than he hates reproach for sin.  This is where our writer is coming from.

There is a natural fear of getting caught.  This is a good thing.  We fear getting caught because we do not like the consequences.  One show I watch from time to time is live cop shows.  The criminal who is caught rarely makes light of it.  Every now and again, it happens.  Usually, those who make light of it are those who have yet to suffer any consequences for their actions.  For the most part, those who are caught do two things.  They either try to deny any wrong-doing hoping the police will forgive them, or they know they are caught and begin to plead for mercy.  It is not out of the ordinary for someone who is caught to know what the consequences will be long before they go to trial.  One young man was evading.  He ran into a tree.  When he was placed under arrest, he shared that he had a baby on the way and that jail was not an option.  He had outstanding warrants, and he was caught with drugs and driving under the influence.  I think the police did this man and his coming child a huge favor.  No one loves the reproach of doing wrong things.  Rare is the person who celebrates the hatred of humanity against him.

I will say it again.  We ought to disdain the reproach of sin.  It is a good thing.  A red face never hurts.  Eating crow may not be enjoyable, but it can be nutritious.  Remembering that sin comes at a cost is a thing we often forget.  Remembering that when we sin, we do not do so in a vacuum.  What matters most is God’s forgiveness and mercy.  No matter how forgiven we may be, man can often hold our sin in reproach.  It is often and defense mechanism against their own sin.  But one thing with God is that when God forgives, it never comes up again.  Praise be the LORD!  So, let us remember that sin brings reproach.  One cannot avoid it.  It is a divinely appointed consequence for doing wrong.  Longing for the righteousness of God is the escape from reproach.

When The King Get's Involved

"And it was told David; and he gathered all Israel, and passed over Jordan, and came upon them, and set [the battle] in array against them. So when David had put the battle in array against the Syrians, they fought with him. But the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew of the Syrians seven thousand [men which fought in] chariots, and forty thousand footmen, and killed Shophach the captain of the host.” (1Ch 19:17-18 AV)

The Ammonites hired the Syrians and others to come against Israel.  Hannun, the king of the Ammonites insulted David and thought that David would invade as a result.  He took preemptive action to go against Israel before David had a chance to respond.  They surrounded Jerusalem.  David sent Joab and his brother to deal with it.  Joab split his forces in two.  One to go against the Syrians.  The other against the Ammonites.  As the battle ensued, the Syrians believe themselves to be winning.  The plan was for the stronger side to assist the weaker side, depending on the progression of the battle.  Yet, we see David come against the Syrians to assist Joab.  The enemy may think they are winning, but when the king shows up, the war is over!  David arrives and makes quick work of defeating his foes.  It isn’t even close.  David is a picture of the second coming of Christ.  The enemies of God may think they are winning, but our King will show and it will be all over but the digging of a mass grave!

Those who hate God are under the illusion that God can be defeated.  They think they can defeat God be martyring all His children, destroying all His institutions, writing all His laws out of existence, and sinking human culture into the deepest depravity possible.  As churches close and fewer people profess faith in Christ, they believe the battle is turning in their favor.  When the laws of the world change to honor a depraved value system, they think God has been successfully kicked out of His creation.  They erroneously assume that liberty to be wicked means permanent victory over their Creator.  Celebration over the freedom to kill the innocent, mutilate the weak, and inclusion of all evil is seen as the preeminence of mankind and the fall of an omnipotent Creator.  What foolishness.  As the ranks of Satan’s forces manipulate mankind to destroy itself and the people of God in the process, one unavoidable fact remains.  God has not yet had the last word.  The King has not yet arrived.

What is really encouraging is to note the success that David had, which Joab could not match.  Joab was losing the battle.  His brother could not help because he, too, was overwhelmed.  When David shows up, it appears as though his presence immediately and swiftly changed the course of the battle.  It does not seem as though David struggled at all.  He arrived, and the battle was won.  What a picture of the second coming of Christ.  His victory will be immediate and swift.  Within a mere matter of moments, the enemies of God will be conquered and dispensed with.  It will be so swift and decisive that it will be like pressing a button of flipping a switch.  One moment the entire world we gather and rise against Jesus.  The next moment, they won’t exist.  It will be that quick.  Like the calming of the seas wherein Christ spoke and immediately the sea was calm, the same will be true at His coming.  I cannot wait!

Seeking Divine Strength is Continual

“Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually.  Remember his marvellous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;” (1 Chron.16:11-12 KJB)

These words are important to me.  Especially today.  Life can become overwhelming and the troubles too heavy to bear.  It is not supposed to be that way.  Particularly for a pastor.  We are supposed to be able to handle everything that comes along.  We are supposed to handle stuff in our own immediate world plus everyone else’s stuff.  We are to have broad shoulders and plow through it all with unfailing faith.  The truth of the matter is that all of us have limits.  We can have the gift of faith, and Paul did, yet still reach the end of our limits.  We can have a love for God like David did, yet his psalms are filled with distress.  We can have the faith of John, as he sees the end of all things, yet still plead for the coming of Christ.  We can have the unbending faith of Daniel, yet still have weak moments of desperation to which only God can rescue.

God does not expect us to have the attribute of omnipotence.  He does not expect us to know and see all things.  If we could, then there would be no limits to what we could face.  The fault lies not in an inherent weakness, but what we do in the condition of that weakness.  The words above are words of David at the return of the ark to Jerusalem.  These are words of praise.  But they are also words of encouragement.  The word that jumps out at me is ‘continually’.  Thinking on the implications of that one word, it would seem the mighty warrior was mighty because there never was a time he attempted a battle in his own strength.  It would seem to me that David was David because of that one word above.  Perhaps his psalms were a manifestation of that idea.  Maybe David, through the psalms and pouring out his complaints before God, was doing just what he encourages all to do.

Seeking the strength and the face of God is not an ‘as-needed’ practice.  It is to be never-ending.  Moment by moment; trial by trial; hurdle by hurdle; deep water and shallow; we are to seek the face of God and His strength without stopping for a respite.  It may seem silly to seek the LORD’s face and strength first thing in the day.  But we don’t know what we will face.  It may seem a bit immature to always depend on God when we have some strength of our own.  David wasn’t too proud to say that he had limits.  He wasn’t too big that he couldn’t see how small he really was.  David knew that what God had called him to do was too big to handle by his own strength.  He knew that the impossible life he was to lead could only be lived by the hand, face, and strength of almighty God.  We would be wise to believe the same thing.

Always Blessed

“Ye [are] blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth.” (Ps 115:15 AV)

A simple truth that we often forget.  It does not matter what our life might be like, we are still blessed.  I know it is a temptation to look at the lives of others and believe they are more blessed than we.  And they may be more blessed.  Why God chooses to bless the wicked and send the righteous through adversity is a matter of perspective.  We are blessed by the simple fact that God chose to create us and then offer us the free gift of salvation.  If nothing else, we have an intimate relationship with our Creator and a home in heaven that can never be taken away.  We are blessed.  More than we might realize!

It is easy to be so overwhelmed by the troubles of life that we forget this truth.  Things come in that occupy everything we are and have.  We come to the end of ourselves, and we see life as one big dark blot.  We have forgotten how blessed we are.  We struggle with our careers, our finances, and our never-ending task list.  We forget how blessed we are.  We struggle with children who seem to be more that we bargained for.  We have to tend to the dog, the roof, and the car.  We forget how blessed we are.  We go to church, and from the moment we enter the doors to the minute we leave, there is something to do, someone who needs something, and a pointed message which seemed tailor made for our situation.  We go to the altar, but when we return to our seats, there seems to be no significant change.  We forget how blessed we are.  We age, and things that used to take little to no effort seem like scaling a mountain peak.  Spring is here, but winter is right around the corner.  We forget how blessed we are.  We get home from work and not we have three to four hours of meal preparation, cleaning up, and other household chores, and bedtime is some distant wish.  But we forget how blessed we are.  TV is not help.  We try to escape the reality of a world on fire, hoping that someone will fix it all.  In doing so, we forget how blessed we are.  Then the day comes when we have to say goodbye to those who are closest to us.  For them or for us, it is a very sad day.  Yet, we can remember how blessed we are.

The tense of the word ‘…blessed…’ is the perfect present tense.  It was true in the past.  It will be true in the future.  It is true in the present.  The psalmist is careful to frame the blessed state of the child of God as a never-ending one.  No matter what life may bring, it cannot take away what God has promised.  No matter what happens in the future, it cannot undo the blessings of the past.  If COVID taught us anything, it was to be grateful.  Prior to that disaster, we had what we needed or wanted at the moment it was desired.  There was no shortage of anything.  When a bit of adversity happened, we realized how blessed we were.  Perhaps that is why God allows adversity.  At least one reason He allows it.  Maybe we have forgotten just how forgiven and blessed we are, and only realize it when what we had is replaced by what we don’t have.  God is good.  All the time!  We have a home in heaven because our sins are all forgiven.  For that mere fact alone, we of all people are most blessed forever!

God's Cure For Righteous Indignation

“So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me. Then I came to them of the captivity at Telabib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.” (Eze 3:14-15 AV)

Ezekiel was given an impossible task.  The LORD sent him to a nation that had no desire to listen.  They were impudent and hard-hearted.  Knowing why Ezekiel was in a bitter and heated spirit, and God’s answer for it, is enlightening.  Prior to his demeanor, the LORD instructed Ezekiel to eat a roll upon which the scriptures, or parts of it, were written.  The Bible tells us it was sweet to the taste but bitter when ingested.  The illustration was not lost on our prophet.  He understood the lesson here.  The truth of the word of God may be palatable and pleasurable to listen to, but once applied, it can be a bit difficult to live with.  Ezekiel needed to know this truth before God sent him to his own people.  To the core, they were rebels.  They would listen to the preaching, but would not change.  What was God’s answer to Ezekiel?  He was to live among them for seven days without saying a word.  He needed to see the truly miserable condition in which they were so that when he preached, he did not take their rejection too personal.

Holy indignation must be tempered by compassion and empathy.  Ezekiel was stirred in his spirit and angry of heart when he compared his nation against the holiness of God’s word.  There are a few observations here.  First, Ezekiel is not perfect.  He has to remember this.  David shares the same circumstances in Psalm 39.  But secondly, even if he was head and shoulders above his congregation in his walk with God, the people are still in need of someone who can empathize with their situation.  It may sound odd to say this, but I have personal experience.  Many years ago, I served in a church where a majority of the leadership would not follow the LORD.  The constitution of the church lent no relief.  All the people could do was to leave.  The whole church was held hostage by three men.  One of them was particularly obstinate.  I remember how I felt when he sat down with his briefcase and calculator, his date book, and his ledgers.  It was on a Sunday morning.  He sat there making business plans for the week.  He sat there in the middle of a worship service and worked a secular job.  I remember feeling sick to my stomach.  I wasn’t angry.  I wasn’t upset.  I watched him as I was preaching, realizing how rebellious and wicked he was.

This is what Ezekiel needed to see.  He needed to see the alarming condition of the people to whom he was sent.  It is said of Jesus that when He looked upon Jerusalem, knowing what they would shortly do, he wept over the city.  Ezekiel was angry and bitter.  He was angry and bitter at the condition of his nation.  It moved him to rage.  It was his response to internalizing the word of God and comparing it to the condition of the people to whom he was sent.  But he couldn’t preach that way.  It would have been of no effect.  What he needed to do was to spend a week in total silence.  He needed to observe.  He needed his emotional response to the condition of the people to change from anger and bitterness to confident compassion.  He needed to learn how to plead.  He needed to learn how to make his case without his emotions doing most of the work.  Only sitting and observing can accomplish this.

Having a Set Heart

“He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD. His heart [is] established, he shall not be afraid, until he see [his desire] upon his enemies.” (Ps 112:7-8 AV)

Evil tidings are a part of life.  There is nothing you can do to keep them from coming.  All one has to do is visit a local hospital to see this truth.  There is coming a day when I will sit down with a doctor and he will tell me that I have a limited expectation of the time I have left.  There will come a time when I will have to move from a house to a small apartment.  The car will break down.  The bills will mount.  The children and grandchildren will come to adversity along the way.  My parents have passed, and soon I will get phone calls one after another, as I hear of siblings and all those whom I love doing the same.  A mark of maturing is one begins to attend more funerals than weddings, graduations, school plays, etc.  As the book of Job teaches us, man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.  The writer’s solution was to establish his heart in trust.  He did not run to a cave and hide from the world.  He did not give up and choose to escape by more drastic means.  Rather, he chose to establish his heart in trust.  Trust in the LORD.

I was a rather nervous child.  My father was an angry and unpredictable man.  At any time, he could arrive in a fit of rage and take it out on the nearest child.  At school, I was the object of bullying.  A lot of bullying.  I had no safe place in which to dwell.  The only escape I had was my paper route and a friend’s house.  But those were only temporary.  Less than an hour a day, and I found myself in a whirlwind of turmoil.  The LORD gave me an epiphany.  I cannot say it permanently fixed my skittishness, but I can say that it went a long way in starting me down the right path.  One afternoon, while in gym class (I hated gym class), as the teams were being picked, I was the last chosen.  That was usually the case.  A gym full of 50-60 boys and I was always the last one picked.  This particular time was disturbing because both captains and a number of boys gave me a look.  That corporate look said, “we are going to go after you with all the violence we can muster.  Both sides will make sure you are eliminated with zeal and callousness”.  I was nauseous.  I ran to the bathroom and vomited.  Then the LORD spoke to me.  He asked, “What is the worst thing they could do to you?”  We, it was hitting me so hard that I would die.  To which he replied, “And what is so bad with that?”  It happened.  God gave me the correct perspective in which to look at all adversity.  What is the worst thing that could happen?

I won’t say that I always have a handle on adversity.  There have been some very dark times since then.  There have been times when my entire world came crashing down, and I wished for the day of my home-going.  It was in those times that I had to establish my heart in trust.  The word ‘established’ is very important.  It means to permanently lay to rest so that it does not move.  This is not a reactive result of yielding.  Rather, this is a conscious choice by the writer to place his heart at rest because faith is always stronger than adversity.  Some love to live in the state of an undisciplined heart.  Some love the adrenaline rush of unabated emotion and thought.  They love to live there.  But that is not what the Bible instructs.  The Bible teaches us that the whole person; body, mind, and emotions; must be brought under subjection.  Today’s answer is medical.  Although there may be a component to this, the answer must start with a choice.  This choice places the fear, confusion, frustration, etc at the feet of faith.  It chooses to shut down the heart and force it to rest in the hope of the promises of God’s word.  What we think or how we feel is brought under the dominion of the word of God.  “Yeah, but” has no place.  What saith the LORD is the right answer!  Establish the heart.  Do so in trusting the LORD and His word.  It is the first and last thing that will bring the peace we look for.