The Mercies of God
The Mercies of God
2 Samuel 24:1,10-17.
Key verse: 2 Samuel 24:14 And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.
God’s mercy is an indisputable need for the common man and the believers alike. It is an undeserved respite and leniency to us when we wrong the Lord and also encompass our everyday walk with Him in godly fear- Lamentations 3:22-23 It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. No matter how much spiritual acumen we possess or the physical affluence we garner, we all still need to be at the mercy of God. Some of the reasons why we must always take the mercy of God into account are: because He is no respecter of persons- Acts 10:34,35; His standards never change- 2 Timothy 2:19; He is sovereign and unquestionable – Romans 9:13-16. This should make us possess reverential fear of Him and live in His acceptable order of holiness and truth.
David in the text became the protagonist of a certain task that led to the destruction of many. It was a harmless numbering of the Israelites to show his majesty and the glory of his kingdom. But one key thing was exempted: a ratification from God. David was a man who understood the need to always seek the face of God for decisions. But on this occasion, he fell short of this important process and landed himself in “hot water”. Now that the deed had been done, and the judgment declared, he was at the behest of choosing a suitable judgment for Himself and the rest of the kingdom. He, however, refused to choose and decided to hand his case to the Lord seeking Him in mercy and humility. We don’t have to wait till we are in dire straits to begin to plead for the mercies of God. Rather, we must keep in mind that our everyday living is by His grace and mercies- Luke 1:50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
Understanding that our lives are at God’s mercy behooves us to extend mercy to our fellow humans. Christ’s parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:23-35 details the extant expectation of God to show mercies in forgiveness and love even as we have received from the Lord an invaluable quota of His mercy. Failure to do this results in judgment- Matthew 18:34-35 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
