Lamentations 3:22,23
“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
I have been thinking about mercy lately. Partially because it wasn’t a strength of mine. For some reason, I was critical. My magnetic pull used to be judgmental.
Where did this come from? Many would say that we act in the manner we were raised. We form the mold that was provided for us. There was one critical caregiver in my home. As he heaped displeasure on me, I would go into my young world and recall his critcism. After a while, I adopted this and was critical of myself. This constant theme went outward. I began to be critical of others.
I attended church as a youth. The lens that I viewed life was one of criticism. As I learned of God, I didn’t think of Him as compassionate. The default was that He was also critical. In my mind, His all seeing and all knowing traits supercharged His criticism. This set me less at ease.
What about mercy? When I think about it, people come to mind. I have been blessed by them. I can still feel the warmth of my mother’s smile. Complete approval and acceptance. It didn’t matter that I made mistakes. I was disciplined, but her acceptance never wavered. Ever merciful.
As I grew as a christian, I had plenty of opportunities to plead for God’s mercy. It came. The harsh image faded. I wouldn’t say that my initial view of God image was warm. It took years to soften it. I had countless experiences of His acceptance. I saw Him work in my circumstances. He was interested in me. He wanted me to succeed. For His purposes and for my development.
God’s mercies are much greater than any human example. However, He uses those experiences. I believe that’s another way He works. We learn about the love of God from loving people. The bible gives us the outline and description of God. Often times the development of those experience come from people. Our senses interacting in the world flesh out our cognitive understanding. So, as we learn of God’s love, we often relate that to those who have loved us. So also we better understand God’s mercy, if we have experienced mercy.
He gives us mercy, if we know it or not. The sacrifice for sins was the greatest act of mercy. We’ll get deeper into that later.
Lord, thank You for Your mercy. Help us to be aware of and know Your mercy.