God's Mercy

“The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: Thy mercy, O LORD, endureth forever: forsake not the works of Thine own hands.” (Psalms 138:8)

Many believe this is David’s psalm of thanksgiving as he ascended the throne.  The Hebrew word that David used which was translated perfect means to complete or to perform.  Paul wrote this very same thing in writing to the Philippians. “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” (Philippians 1:6) Many of us in our youthful exuberance are striving.  We strive to do right. We strive to succeed. We make great efforts to build and to maintain the image of what we believe God wants, what we want others to believe about us and what we want to believe about ourselves. But both David and Paul say it’s the Lord’s work.  It’s not what we want or what we are struggling to achieve. In Romans Paul puts it all into perspective. “So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.” (Romans 9:16) Pastor Conrad Quiroz in Mexico keeps saying, “It’s all God.” Yes. It’s all God’s work.  And it’s all about God. We don’t have to strive, but only obey.

David had a revelation of this and prayed in our psalm of study, “Thy mercy, O Lord endureth forever.” It was God’s mercy that brought him to the throne. It was not based on anything he strove to do. He did not make an effort to get the throne. Quite the opposite.  He honored Saul as king even when Saul was pursuing to kill him. And David spares his life in chapter 24 and again in chapter 26 of 1 Samuel. This was not merely an expression of thankfulness for the Lord’s mercy, but his core belief that God’s mercy would perform all His desire for him. At the beginning when David fled from Saul, he understood that it was God’s mercy that would complete all God intended for him. “I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me. He shall send from heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth His mercy and His truth.” (Psalms 57:2-3)

It's God’s mercy that saved us.  He could have left us to slosh and flounder in the darkness. Don’t think for a moment that we chose to follow the Lord. Yes, it did take a decision that we had to make.  But the Lord’s mercy opened our eyes and ears of understanding to the Truth of His salvation. I well remember when I couldn’t even understand the simplest of God’s Truth even when He placed it right before my eyes. I knew the answer to life was in God, but I had no light to understand. I asked God to show me, opened up a Bible and pointed to a Scripture. It was John 5:39. “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me.” (John 5:39) The sad truth is that I didn’t know who “Me” was. It was three years later when I learned that it was Jesus. Jesus didn’t just want me to have eternal life.  He wanted my heart.  His mercy preserved me until I gave Him my all. His mercy brought me to the Truth.

God chose to have mercy on us.  This He did from the foundation of the earth. Before we even existed, we lived in His eyes. (Remember that He sees the end from the beginning.) Before we were born, “...God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) Before the creation God knew us. He saw us as His children in Christ. “According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love:” (Ephesians 1:4) We had nothing to do with that. It was His mercy that fulfilled and is now completing and perfecting us until we see our Lord and Savior face to face. It is Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. (Hebrews 12:2)