Great in mercy

When we hear the word ‘Mercy’ what do we think of? Perhaps a prisoner being pardoned by a judge and rescued from prison, or maybe letting an animal go free when it has been trapped. So, when we think of God’s mercy towards us it means ‘Not giving us what we do deserve’ whilst grace is ‘Giving us what we don’t deserve’

So, when we read Psalm 145 ‘The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works’ we see that God’s tender mercies are over all His works. And we are His works. He created us, so His goodness and mercy are over us – no matter what we do. He gave us free will and we mess up from time to time but because of His great mercy and compassion all we have to do is go to Him in repentance and He forgives us no matter what. That doesn’t mean we have carte blanche to behave exactly as we please, but it does mean that when we do sin He is there for us ready and available to hear our cries, to forgive us and show us His tender mercies. Psalm 23:6 says ‘Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life’. So, God’s tender mercy and His goodness are there for us throughout our lives. He is our loving heavenly Father and He wants to bless us all the time with abundant blessings and gifts.

John 10:10 tells us ‘The thief (the devil) does not come except to kill steal and to destroy. I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly’. So, listening to the devil brings death, trusting in Jesus brings life.

The Lord is slow to anger and rich in unfailing love (abundant in mercy NKJV) forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion

Numbers 14:18 NLT

So even before Jesus came to make full atonement for our sins Father God was a God of goodness and abundant in mercy. Now that we have Jesus we don’t have to offer sacrifices to God to obtain forgiveness for our sins. We just have to accept Him into our hearts, repent of our sins so that we know we have God’s forgiveness and mercy. Amen

: Terry Walmsley :