Everyday Mercy
His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness - Lamentations 3.22-23
We can read Lamentations 3.22-23 repeatedly and still not believe it. Stop and think for a moment: do you really think about the mercy of God as new every day? When we read the Old Testament we can often see that the mercy of God is in places that we’d rarely look for or expect to find it. It is easy to read in Psalm 23, for example, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” However, we forget about the times that people like Job prayed for mercy, not for himself, but for his enemies. What does mercy mean to you? Is it a thought that you only connect to the cross? Or is mercy something that you see or want to see on a regular basis?
What does it mean for us to see the mercy of God new every day? When looking at God’s word, we can see that mercy is what God shows to humankind. Even in the midst of a flood God is showing mercy to us, His creation. How often do we go about our days not thinking about this? Just the fact that you and I woke up this morning is a way that God is showing us mercy. Mercy is part of who God is. In the garden, God showed mercy on Adam and Eve. Instead of destroying them, He asked them what had they done in order to help them reflect on their actions. This is one of many ways God shows us mercy, ways we may not notice in the busyness of our days. He knew what Adam and Eve did, and he still shows them mercy through the act of shedding blood to cover them and protect them.
Even now as I am writing this, I still see areas in my life that I have forgotten or chosen to forget this amazing truth for my life. We may pray, “have mercy on me, a sinner”, but we forget that He will and already has. David Mathis writes,
“God’s mercy not only shows us who he is, but also tells us something essential about ourselves. That we have been shown mercy means not only that we didn’t deserve his favor, but that we deserved his righteous hammer against the anvil of justice. Our cry for mercy admits to our ill-deserving, not just undeserving. By rights, we should be under his impending wrath, like all mankind (Ephesians 2:3) — but for the “the tender mercy of our God” (Luke 1:78).
The truth of mercy is a truth that should cause us to be moved in our hearts. Moved to the point of tears even. God in his mercy chose you, a sinner. He chose to show you His mercy. In revealing himself to you, He has shown his deep mercy for you. There are those around us everyday that God has not shown his mercy. It is mercy that has been shown to you every day. May this move us to move to others and show them the mercy of Christ and share the gospel with all around us.
Matthew Hampel
Matthew is a husband to Kimberly and a father to Levi and Piper. He has an associate of divinity and a bachelor of biblical studies from Midwestern baptist theological seminary. He is also the host of the Pastor Dad Podcast.