Trust In God's Mercy

“He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness. He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.  Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.” (Job 33:26-30 AV)

This is one of my favorite passages in the entire Bible.  Elihu speaks the absolute truth here.  This truth is most precious, but hard to remember.  Specially when we fail the LORD far more times than we care to dwell upon.  Even though Elihu meant for Job to confess some sin here and end the trial of which he suffered, it is still true.  Job had no sin to confess.  Job was clean of iniquity.  Elihu was trying to encourage an impossible outcome here.  Nonetheless, his words are the basis of our relationship with a God whose mercy fails not.  When we consider the statement of grace above, it must be accepted by faith.  Our nature thinks there are limits with God.  We think that no matter how repentant we might be, there comes a time when God will not forgive.  This is a lie out of hell.  God forgives any and all who genuinely seek His forgiveness in response to the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit.

If we think back to our fathers, or being a father, there were times when they, or we, purposely stayed mad at our children to teach them a lesson.  This should not be so.  Years ago, serving as a chaplain, I was called to the bedside of a man suffering from a terminal illness.  He lay in his bed in the PCU, waiting for his last breath.  I asked him if he had any children in the area which I could call for him.  He said he had one child, but they were estranged.  I encouraged him to humble himself and call this child.  What a horrible thing to die alone.  He refused.  Then I asked what it was that happened.  It was so minor that it came as such a shock to me.  From my point of view, the fault of the child was not worthy of the permanent wrath of the father.  What startled me even more was the willingness of this father to go off into eternity knowing he was leaving his child in the condition of unresolved reconciliation.  The fact this would torture his child for the rest of his or her life was of no concern.  It was sad all around.

Our heavenly Father works His ministry of grace and mercy oft times with men.  The purpose is stated in the end of the passage.  He grants forgiveness and reconciliation that we might get out of the pit of guilt and despair.  I just read this morning the number one emotion that contributes to addiction is depression.  If we are not forgiven, it will lead to worse and worse sin.  God never intended man to stay is a pit.  He never intended for our lives to be what they are.  He intended for us to live in the light of His life.  He intended for us to have a life more abundant that we can imagine.  The beginning of the life He intended for us starts with getting out of the pit.  Escaping this pit means we need to confess and forsake our sin one more time.  It means trusting in God’s infinite mercy, goodness, and forgiveness.  As we stated above, this is hard.  Specially when we consider just how often we have failed the God who claims His love for us is undying.  Why would a God who is infinitely perfect and holy forgive without measure?  How can we believe this when the only examples in life we have possess limited grace and mercy?  Because we have to trust!  If not, we are doomed to eventually fall into a pit and never come out.  Trust in God’s unending mercy!  He doesn’t want you to stay in that hole you dig for yourself.  Grab to ladder of God’s grace and let Him pull you out.  This is what God works often with the children of men!