Truth and Mercy

Bev shared at church yesterday morning. Here are some of the ideas.

Psalm 25:10 All the ways of the LORD are mercy and truth. - Here we see that God and His ways are always truthful and mercy.

Mich 6:8 What does the LORD require? to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly before the LORD. - Here we see what God requires of us; justice, mercy and humility.

• do justice - action
• love mercy - something precious
• walk humbly - lifestyle

When we reject truth, we prevent His mercy from reaching us, our defense is removed.

Revelation of the truth, of how poorly we are doing, is so we can humble ourselves, repent and receive mercy. WE have the examples of Rehoboam and the prices of Israel in 2 Chronicles 12:5-7 who humbled themselves and saw God's mercy in their lives. We must also consider the Bad, bad king Manasseh that repented and sought God and received mercy during the last years of his life, 2 Chronicles 33:10-13. These kings responded to the truth revealed by God by humbling themselves and repenting. Because of their humility they received the mercy of God instead of the justice they deserved.

King Asa in 2 Chronicles 16:7-10 is the other example. He began trusting in man instead of God and the prophet came by to give him God's message. Asa rejected the truth and received justice instead of mercy.

Fortunately, God is slow to wrath and quick to show mercy, but still the best defense against having to live the complete justice we deserve is to be humble and acknowledge truth revealed in our lives.

Then we must take the application to our own lives and dealings with others. How do we generally deal with truth and offense in our own lives. Well, they did offend us, that is the truth and justice must be served. That is so common a response in our lives. One of the primary elements of mercy is forgiveness. Let us forgive and love those around us who have offended us as Jesus loved us. Romans 5:8 tells us that while we were still living in rebellion against God, He loved us and gave His life for US.

Yes, James 2:13 is true. Mercy triumphs over justice. Let us walk in the ways of the Lord. Acknowledge truth, walk in love and show mercy one towards another.