Mercy

Focus verses: Psalm 123

When it comes down to the bare bones, we have no claim on God. Our only hope is in His benevolent intentions toward us, His fallen creatures.

Mercy is an intangible of inestimable value. It is a quality of character which was captured by the Bard in his Merchant of Venice.

Jeremiah recognized God's faithfulness and mercy in Lamentations. It is the basis for the old hymn "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" which has been a rock in my personal foundation of faith. "Morning by morning new mercies I see." Each day brings forth another of God's mercies towards us.

In the Catholic ritual, the Kyrie expresses both the plea for the Lord to have mercy and the gratitude that the Lord is continually being merciful.

Mercy isn't given once and then withdrawn. God is faithful to extend mercy to us literally forever. It is only by His mercy that we have the means to spend eternity with Him. Christmas is the greatest mercy of all.

Father, God,

Open our eyes to see Your great mercies in our daily lives. Make us truly grateful for Your kindness toward us. Grant us the favor of walking closely with You.

In Jesus' most precious name. Amen.

A Call From God

Focus verses: Ezekiel 2:1-3:11

When God called Ezekiel, He did it in visions, elaborate and astounding visions. But there are some very important principles here.

First, be sure this is God's calling, not just man's ideas. Only God can make a call fruitful. And the Holy Spirit gives the strength to follow through.

Second, fill yourself with the Word of God. It is the source of your power and knowledge. God Himself sets it forth as a requirement before Ezekiel can go forth and speak to the people.

Third, your response to the call cannot be based on people's reactions to your message. You are responsible to God, not man, to be faithful to what you are told to say.

Ezekiel is not the only one called of God. Each of us has a call of God upon his life. God has a specific purpose for each of us. Our faithfulness to that call is the standard by which we should measure our success in life. It has nothing to do with what people think of us. It has everything to do with what God has called us to accomplish.

Father, God,

Help us to remain faithful to Your call upon our lives. Give us a clear vision of what You would have us do and imbue us with the power and perseverance to do it.

In Jesus' most precious name.
Amen.

Remember No More

Focus verses: Isaiah 43:16-25

Wallowing in the regrets of the past is counterproductive. When we keep thinking about what is gone or lost, what we have done or have failed to do, we have neither room nor energy for going forward and developing the new things that God has planned for our lives.

God wants us not to dwell in the past. He specifically asks us to look for the new things He is doing. In the old hymn, "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" we sing in the chorus "Morning by morning new mercies I see." That's the ticket.

Thomas O. Chisholm, the writer of the lyrics of this hymn, evidently knew very well God's desires as expressed in our focus verses. The hymn is filled only with evidence of God's faithfulness. Nothing of man's past appears until you get to the third verse: "Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide. Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside."

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. At one of the hardest times in my life, when I thought grief would drown me in the sea of sorrow, that hymn would well up from the middle of my spirit, and I would be comforted.

Verse 25. "I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more." God distinctly remembers forgetting our sins when we have confessed them. He doesn't hold them against us once we have dealt with them. Each confessional brings a new beginning. The slate has been cleaned. And God can write upon our lives the new things He has planned for us.

Father, God,

We thank You that You are so generous with us, that You want the past to be the past and not some chain to hold back the future. Help us to rid ourselves of the arrogance that our memories are more important than Yours. If You forget, help us to forget -- not the lesson learned -- but the sin itself.

In Jesus' most precious name.
Amen.

A Righteous King In Judah

Focus verses: II Kings 18:1-7

After all the prophecies of doom and gloom, both against the children of Israel and against their enemies, we have a moment's respite.

Hezekiah, king of Judah, trusted the Lord and did what was right in His eyes. He removed the high places of worship to idols and cut down the Asherah poles. He took anything that could have been called an idol and destroyed it. And the Lord prospered all that he did.

In the middle of all the corruption and evil, one king brought Judah back to the worship of the true God. There are consequences for righteousness as well as consequences for sin.

The consequences of Hezekiah's faithfulness are just what you would expect. Everything he undertook was successful.

God has given us a blueprint for success and prosperity. He handed it to Moses on Mount Sinai. We are not able to follow that blueprint precisely because we are a fallen people, but God has even given us His Son to cover our shortcomings. God looks at our hearts, not just our actions.

Because we are children of Adam and Eve, we will never be able to keep the law completely. But that shouldn't keep us from striving to keep it all. Nor should it give us an excuse for not trying.

If we are faithful to Him, God will prosper the work of our hands. That doesn't mean we will all be millionaires. It does mean that our efforts will be rewarded in one fashion or another.

That reward, however, should not be our goal. Our goal is complete fidelity to the Lord. We may fall short, but we can always pick ourselves up and start again. The more we seek to follow, the better we will get at it.

Father, God,

Save us from being deluded by the lures of this world. Keep us faithful, single-minded on serving You alone.

In Jesus' most precious name.
Amen.