God is Merciful

Our God, the only true God, is a merciful God! His mercy is immeasurable!

There are several different aspects of God’s merciful character in the scriptures.

For the people of God in the Old Testament, His mercy was displayed in providential deliverances from their enemies; in personal deliverances from the threat of death; and in the strengthening of their spiritual well-being as a result of trials and afflictions, through His Word. In addition, God’s merciful kindness is displayed in his faithfulness,

in keeping all of His Covenant promises throughout the Scriptures.

The lives of Moses, Joseph, and David are good examples of all of these mercies received from God.

As Moses sang in his song of prayer and thanksgiving to God for His divine deliverance of the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt:

“Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people [which] thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided [them] in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.” (Exodus 15:13; KJV)

And in the life of Joseph, when he was falsely accused of sexually assaulting his master’s wife:

“And Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners [were] bound: and he was there in the prison. But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.” (Genesis 39:20-21; KJV)

And, as King David said:

“I know, O LORD, that thy judgments [are] right, and [that] thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant. Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for thy law [is] my delight.” (Psalm 119:75-77; KJV)

There are various other words used to define God’s character, which are similar to ‘merciful‘, words such as ‘grace’ ‘faithfulness’, ‘lovingkindness’, and ‘steadfast love’. These are all used in the scriptures and are closely linked to the root word for ‘mercy’.

We probably have never experienced most of the threats mentioned above that Moses, Joseph, and David experienced. But we do experience affliction of another kind, for since the first sin in the garden of Eden, sin has afflicted us.

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:” (Romans 5:12; KJV)

This leads us to the subject of forgiveness. 

Without forgiveness, we are doomed to live in sin and die in sin, as we are all subject to death because of sin. Fortunately, our God delights in mercy and has made a way by which we might be freed from sin! 

“The LORD [is] merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, [so] great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, [so] far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103: 8, 10-12; KJV)

“Who [is] a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth [in] mercy.” (Micah 7:18; KJV)

Forgiveness comes only through the mercy of God. And because He delights in mercy, He wants us to seek Him, that our sins may be forgiven. We started by saying that God’s mercy is immeasurable. That is true.

But His mercy is not unconditional. We can limit God’s mercy toward us by the way we deal with our own sinfulness. We must acknowledge our sin, and sincerely wish we had not done this or that before God can forgive us. This is called repentance.

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:8-9; KJV)

God, in his mercy, has given us the greatest gift he could give us, in providing his beloved son, his only son, to die on the cross for our sins. Baptism into the name of Jesus Christ, with full knowledge of what we are doing, cleanses us from all the sins we have previously committed, and from that moment forward, forgiveness is available to us through Christ’s perfect sacrifice, that we may no longer live in sin.

Baptism is important! Once we are baptized into Christ, we are his disciples. His teachings lead us in the way of righteousness. 

Jesus Christ asks us to be merciful, even as God has been merciful to us.

As the apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians, 

“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:32; KJV)

This, then, is another condition that we must meet if we are seeking God’s mercy.

 As Christ told his disciples:

“For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15; KJV)

Because of God’s love for all of his creation, he “desires that all of his children would be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth”, 1 Timothy 2:4 (KJV).

But God will not force us to accept his mercy, that we may be saved. Men and women cannot be pardoned against their will. If we disdain God’s mercy, he will turn away from us, and we will not be saved into the Kingdom of God, which is coming on the earth.

We know from the scriptures that Jesus Christ will return and establish God’s eternal kingdom, filling the earth with peace, righteousness, and justice, and eventually cleansing the earth from all that is evil.

We make the decision now…. Let us earnestly seek to know God, and His Son, and His plan for the earth!

“O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD [endureth] forever. Praise ye the LORD.” (Psalm 117:1-2; KJV)