August 13, 2019
Good Morning Fellow Travelers,
Read: Hebrews 12:1-13 and 13:5-6
“Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” Psalm 85:10
God is rich in mercy. His love for us insures His mercy. But God is also just. How can He be both just and merciful at the same time? The answer to that question is found in our lead verse.
Through the atonement Christ made for us sinners in His death on Calvary’s cross, the justice of God was not ignored, but rather it was satisfied. Christ died for us. His merciful heart was broken in death for us, so that we need not die in our sins. Justice (righteousness) and peace have kissed each other right there on Calvary. Will you believe it? Faith claims the promise.
This is all so very wonderful for us. But there is another aspect of His mercy that we must understand; this is to find mercy in trial and adversity. I have come to understand that His mercies are also found in His chastisements. He brings these things into our lives for our profit, that we may actually share in His holiness. Our hardships are a part of the divine blueprint for our lives. Someone may be incarcerated, but God shows mercy even in the midst of this to teach us His ways. A besetting illness may be His design for our good. Financial loss might fit into His pattern for our lives.
Sometimes I have prayed fervently for the removal of the thing that later I found out was very beneficial to me. Lest our prayers fly right into the face of what God wants to do in us, we do well to bow our hearts to His sovereign will, rather than insist on deliverance. In God’s mercy He withholds what we think we need so much. He knows the truth of all the aspects of our life and others, whereas we are often blind to some aspects.
Mercy and truth join hands in our willingness to surrender to our own personal cross. Righteousness and peace kiss each other in our willingness to pray the perfect prayer, “Not my will, but thine be done.” This prayer never fails.
~~ James Baer
