The mercy of God

I think I have always known what mercy is in life. I mean as a kid we always played that mercy game where you try and hurt the other person's hand until they scream "mercy." But lately Mike and I have been wondering what does the mercy of God look like. The Bible is full of passages that talk about asking and even begging for God's mercy. Psalm 116:1, "I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy..." Biblegateway.com defines mercy as "compassion for the miserable. Its object is misery. By the atoning sacrifice of Christ a way is open for the exercise of mercy towards the sons of men, in harmony with the demands of truth and righteousness." We are in a state of misery and yet God chooses to show compassion to us in those times. How often do we use this as a model for our lives?

In this time of our lives, we are miserable. No we aren't moping around and crying all the time, but yet we are in misery. Misery is distress caused by a need or another source. For us, it is the desire to be parents. By this need/desire not being fulfilled, we are in a state of misery. But God has grace on us by giving us a good heart about it. Lately we have been needing some mercy though...to get out of this time of need and enter into a state of happiness.

We know that God is 100% capable of showing mercy and if we believe it, He will do it. There is a song with these words..."Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy on me..." and as powerful as those words are, sometimes we sing it without truly believing it. In A.W. Tozer's book, Knowledge of the Holy, there is a chapter on the mercy of God. He basically says that we need to know and believe that God is merciful. Not that he WAS or WILL BE but that he IS merciful to us now.

I believe this with my whole heart and soul and know that in God's perfect timing, God will show mercy to Mike and I. It may not be in the way that we thought it would or it will be exactly what we are asking for but He is perfectly capable of showing mercy to us right now. WOW...my God is great!