The truth about mercy

Devotional readings: Lamentations 3:16-23; Psalm 89:1-2 (CEB)

 ²² Certainly the faithful love
of the LORD hasn’t ended;
certainly God’s compassion
isn’t through!
²³ They are renewed every morning.
Great is your faithfulness.  Lamentations 3:22-23

¹ I will sing of the LORD’s loyal love forever.
   I will proclaim your faithfulness
   with my own mouth
   from one generation to the next.
² That’s why I say,
   “Your loyal love is rightly built—forever!
   You establish your faithfulness
   in heaven.”  Psalm 89:1-2

How often as we travel on the journey of life is our attention suddenly and effectively arrested by the sounds of words and music composed to worship God?

From the truths of God set to music we receive solace, encouragement, and renewed strength. Singing praises to God can do God’s work when other avenues have failed.

When Israel walked over the bed of the Red Sea and afterward witnessed the deliverance of God by drowning the Egyptians in the same place - they spontaneously composed a hymn of praise to God. (Exodus 15:1-21)

Moses closed his long career with a song. (Deuteronomy. 31:30-32:43)

Jehosaphat, good king of Judah, defeated the enemy with song! (2 Chronicles 20)

In the Word we read of the songs of David, the sons of Korah, the angel choirs, and a new song that even the angels won’t be able to sing! (Rev. 5:9, 14:3)

In the New Testament we are taught to "sing with the Spirit and with understanding." (1 Corin. 14:15) We are to sing "with grace in our hearts to the Lord." (Col. 3:16)

Isaiah said, "The LORD Jehovah is my strength and my song."

The singing of praises and use of music is forever entwined with worship to God.

And who can forget the inspirational and soothing words of one of my favorite hymns:

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Refrain

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

When Thomas Chisolm wrote the words to this beloved hymn, It was noticed that he made a tiny error. Perhaps after reading the Scripture passage you will notice it too. The hymn is based on our devotional reading from Lamentations. He wrote, "Morning by Morning new mercies I see!" 

However if you re read the passage it is quite clear that the writer could see very little mercy! Re read verse 16:  He crushed my teeth into the gravel;
he pressed me down into the ashes.

This verse seems to suggest very strongly that writer is so overwhelmingly distraught by his circumstances that it feels like someone is forcibly pushing his face into the ground. The strength of the words seem to pass along to me the image that they have been pushing on it for quite some time - "he crushed my teeth into the ground!" 

In my experience, it takes a great deal of prolonged downward force to crush anything. The harder the substance, the more energy yet that is going to take to get the job done. For example, take an orange and push down on it with your hand and without much effort you will be able to crush it flat. Then try crushing a rock with your hand; and then use a sledge hammer. The writer of Lamentations had extraordinary external downward pressure being applied to him from behind. Just reading this passage even hurts my teeth. 

It occurred to me that if your face is being 'pushed' into the ground that the only thing you are likely to see (and taste) is the darkness of the dirt. Certainly, there is no mercy to be seen anywhere by anyone.  And that is the point of the passage - Jeremiah did not see any new mercies. In fact, he did not see a thing. He had no visible evidence of God's mercies at all. For Jeremiah, morning by morning brought horror, and pain and dread - which bear no resemblance to mercy at all. Jeremiah was not saying, "I have seen that I can trust You because I understand everything that is going on in my life." He was saying that "I have seen that I can trust You because You are God and I have seen that you cannot fail. And I know You cannot lie." 

There are times when the song we sing in life is "My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?" Times when life is not the least bit easy and the challenges all too overwhelming. There have been many times in my life when it felt like my face was being forcibly pushed into the ground and I could see nothing of  God's faithfulness. However, in spite of that, we should make an honest effort to hold on and find out what God is up to when it sometimes seems that He has forsaken us. The challenge comes when we more of the enemy's darkness which seeks to pull us away from the Light of life and causes us to operate on our own limited sources of strength to get through (2Corinthians 12:7 - 10; Philippians 4:12 - 13, 19).

There are times when we all lament – or need to lament. There are times when we have walked down the wrong path – and have found at the end of it – a dead end. At the end of the road we cry out, “What have I done? How could I have been so foolish? How could I have been so stupid? How could I have NOT listened to my Father and followed His advice?” As you reach the dead end – you look back and reflect of what you have done to get you to that lifeless spot. You cry out in your desperation – you cry out in your foolishness – you cry out in your sorrow. The book of Lamentations is a book of crying out. Crying out to our God. In this chapter from Lamentations we find great truths  - We can faithfully cry out to A God of justice – and A God of mercy knowing that He does hear us. He does see us. He does cry for us. He will most certainly act for us.

God is faithful whether you feel it or not or whether you see it or not or whether you acknowledge it or not:

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside! (verse 3)

Refrain

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

         

The truth about mercy is that when we do see it, even in the dark, it is a visible image of a loving God.

May you bear true witness to the light of God's mercy in your life!!!

God Bless

Tom Meyer