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“The steadfast love of The Lord never ceases, His mercy never comes to an end." Lamentations 3:22
This one is hard for me. I'm not naturally merciful. My wife is. I have a friend, who's been a mentor for a long time, and he'd say he's not naturally merciful either. His wife is. I can't think of a more contrasting relationship than the ones where the wife's gift is mercy, and the husband's gift appears to be “emotionless" punishment. But I'm sure that many people have experienced this and seen how God can make it work.
I'm past the half way point in this month and wish I would have committed the time to write about this topic sooner. I feel like I should have put more thought into mercy early on. I don't think I could ever put enough thought into mercy… Perhaps that's why God gave me a wife who is so good at it – a constant reminder of what I need!
I would like to get systematic with these monthly meditations to prevent this procrastination… I remember last September I did a better job of preparing for “Praise and Worship month" — I tried to remember to say Hallelujah at least 10 times a day, and it was awesome! Maybe for the rest of this month I'll start each day with the prayer of the tax collector: “Lord God, have mercy on me, a sinner."
As I try to think of things to give up during this month's meditation, I'm sure my son would be happy if I decided not to punish him… But God says through the wisdom of Solomon that to fail to discipline a son shows hate for him! Another prophet says that God requires us to love mercy, but God disciplines the ones He loves. So there's a pretty solid connection between love and discipline as well as the unity between mercy and love – often those words are used interchangeably in different translations. Psalm 136 is a great place to see that.
So I'll close with a couple conclusions as I continue this crusade of compassion. 1) I will give up getting angry when I discipline my children, and 2) I will take up a more understanding disposition to instruct them in the right way hopefully preventing punishment for doing things the wrong way.
I am enjoying the flow from February to April of Love to Grace with Mercy in the middle. I didn't plan that. Each monthly meditation mysteriously manifest itself in my mind last year. I personally believe God wants me to become better at showing these traits, and I'm praying His Holy Spirit teaches me how!
Have mercy on me… This might take a while!
Peace,
Adam
Linked verses:
Luke 18:13
Proverbs 13:24
Micah 6:8
Hebrews 12:6