Psalm 40:11 TLB
LORD, don’t hold back your tender mercies from me. Let your unfailing love and faithfulness always protect me.
It's great to obtain mercy, but oh, how much more precious when it is dispensed tenderly.
God doesn't grant us mercy from a grudging heart, no, it's given freely from a heart full of lovingkindness.
There's a lovely old hymn which says:
"Earnestly, tenderly Jesus is calling"...
His call isn't harsh or condemnatory, it is soft and tender, full of understanding of our desperate plight without Him.
It's not a skimpy mercy given out miserly, it is abundant and more than enough.
That mercy was dispensed from the cross - long hours of agony purchased it!
Wounded and bleeding, mercy flows to our heart to cleanse and protect us.
It is indeed a bloody gospel. The focal point of mercy.
What a mystery that, through the vulnerable Saviour, undressed, bludgeoned, brutalised and humiliated, we find protection.
Another old hymn brings it home:
Mercy there was great and grace was free
Pardon there was multiplied to me
There my burdened soul found liberty
At Calvary
Years I spent in vanity and pride
Caring not my Lord was crucified
Knowing not it was for me He died
At Calvary
May we all know personally what it means to fully taste of that mercy!
... much later on...
Today I met with a longstanding client of mine who is desperately poorly with cancer.
The one and only thing that I cling to in prayer is the mercy of Jesus flowing from His Wounds: "by His stripes we are healed".... Isaiah 53:5
The ultimate healing is the restoration of our hearts to our Creator. So at least I pray that for him.
As I pray, I think of the cruel beating that Jesus took from the Roman soldiers - to think that those very stripes are what brings us healing - what kind of mercy is that? ... nothing tender about the soldiers, but infinitely so from our Lord!
Prayer
Father God, I bring to you my client and my friend. He's in big trouble unless you step in with your mercy. Let Your Precious Wounds, Jesus, plead for his healing and salvation. We bring everyone we know who is suffering with cancer today. Please give hope in their darkness and fear. Amen & Amen.
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