When Mercy is Not Enough

“Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants. O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days…And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.” (Ps 90:13-14, 17 AV)

This cause for this psalm is Israel’s rejection of God’s leadership to take the land of Canaan.  Twelve spies returned.  Ten gave the report the land could not be conquered.  Even with God’s help.  Two, Caleb and Joshua, rightly reported the people of the land were careless, having no defense, and the LORD could and would give the victory.  The people murmured against God and Moses, so the LORD threatened to destroy the nation, restarting with Moses and his descendants.  Moses, knowing the Egyptians would hear of it, begged the LORD to change His mind.  He interceded with God on behalf of an unbelieving and rebellious nation.  He knew if the LORD destroyed Israel, then the world would have the triumph.  God granted the mercy for which Moses pled.  But that wasn’t the end of it.  Moses requests for more than mercy.  He asks for more than mere forgiveness.  Verse seventeen seeks the restoration of God’s purpose for Israel.  Forgiveness and mercy were not enough.  A renewed purpose and sense of direction we also sought.  It is one thing to gain forgiveness for sin.  But forgiveness of sin with no purpose to follow is only half a victory.

This is where our present generation has left the rails.  We preach salvation from sin and then go no further with it. Salvation becomes and experience.  It does not continue into Christlikeness.  We gain forgiveness, but without a sense of purpose, sin repeats itself.  We are motivated to escape sin because we wish to avoid the consequences of it.  If that is our only motive, we involve ourselves in sin whose consequences we can tolerate.  No, there has to be a purpose.  This is the point of discipleship.  Discipleship seeks to ground the believer in sound doctrine.  But it is also designed to find he or she a place in the plan of God.  There are general purposes, or wills, to which we are all called.  We are all called to sanctification.  We are all called to be a witness.  We are all called to meet the needs of those for whom we are responsible.  We are all called to assemble for the purpose of worship and mutual encouragement.  We are all called to labor.  Etc.  All of these callings are our purpose.  If we do not see these purposes as the natural result of and purpose for forgiveness and mercy, then we will continue in sin that sin may abound.

Moses explicitly asks God not to forsake the work of His hands.  He asks the LORD to establish the work of His hands.  This word has the meaning of cement that is setting.  Moses is asking the result of forgiveness and mercy to be the solidifying and maturing of a nation.  He is seeking the LORD’s mercy far beyond mere forgiveness.  He is seeking the manifestation of forgiveness to be a permanent change in Israel which will result in the nation carrying out their unique calling.  The same should be true of us.  If we are asking the LORD to forgive us for the sake of a guilty conscience, we miss the point.  If we are asking the LORD to forgive us so the consequences of our sin might be eased, we are missing the point.  We should be seeking the forgiveness of God so that our purpose of life might be established.  We should seek His mercy, not for our own personal peace, but His hand might continue to mold us into what He wants of our lives.  This was Moses’ prayer.  This should be ours as well.