His Mercies are Very Great!
David knew that the mercies of God were very great. When he acted very foolishly and sinned terribly by ordering Joab to take a complete census of Israel out of pride, God gave him a choice for his punishment. David chose to cast himself upon the mercies of God, because he knew from experience that His mercies are very great.(I Chronicles 21:13) I pray that we all know the great mercies of God from personal experience.
First of all, it is interesting that the term is "mercies" plural, instead of mercy, singular. God's mercy is so varied. He is always coming up with new ways to express His mercy to us, so we must speak of it in the plural. Whenever I hear the word mercies, my heart goes to Lamentations 3:22-24, where Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, expounds on the mercies of God. It is because of His mercies that we are not consumed already. We have all committed sins that are serious enough for God to have removed us from this earth, but because His compassions fail not, we are still here. He is the God of second chances. Also, God's mercies are new every morning. Just because we experienced one of them yesterday, doesn't mean that He is out of mercies today. God's faithfulness is great. He does not give up on us. Because of His mercies, we should all trust Him completely, and He should be our hope forever. After all, the death of our Lord Jesus on the Cross for our sins was God's greatest mercy. Since He was willing to have such compassion and mercy on us all, we know we can depend on Him each day and hope in Him for eternity.
However, please listen to one caution. We must not presume upon the mercies of God. Notice that David was sincerely distressed. He confessed his sin and foolishness openly to God. He was not sinning with the thought of expecting God to forgive Him and be merciful. In other words we can never decide to sin, while thinking, "I can just go to God in repentance and confession afterward, and He will be merciful to me." That never works. God looks at our hearts, and we can't fool God. His mercies are for those who are consistently committed to Him as Lord, but we sin without premeditation.
Tomorrow, I intend to read I Chronicles 24-27.
First of all, it is interesting that the term is "mercies" plural, instead of mercy, singular. God's mercy is so varied. He is always coming up with new ways to express His mercy to us, so we must speak of it in the plural. Whenever I hear the word mercies, my heart goes to Lamentations 3:22-24, where Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, expounds on the mercies of God. It is because of His mercies that we are not consumed already. We have all committed sins that are serious enough for God to have removed us from this earth, but because His compassions fail not, we are still here. He is the God of second chances. Also, God's mercies are new every morning. Just because we experienced one of them yesterday, doesn't mean that He is out of mercies today. God's faithfulness is great. He does not give up on us. Because of His mercies, we should all trust Him completely, and He should be our hope forever. After all, the death of our Lord Jesus on the Cross for our sins was God's greatest mercy. Since He was willing to have such compassion and mercy on us all, we know we can depend on Him each day and hope in Him for eternity.
However, please listen to one caution. We must not presume upon the mercies of God. Notice that David was sincerely distressed. He confessed his sin and foolishness openly to God. He was not sinning with the thought of expecting God to forgive Him and be merciful. In other words we can never decide to sin, while thinking, "I can just go to God in repentance and confession afterward, and He will be merciful to me." That never works. God looks at our hearts, and we can't fool God. His mercies are for those who are consistently committed to Him as Lord, but we sin without premeditation.
Tomorrow, I intend to read I Chronicles 24-27.