GOD IS MERCIFUL

Today’s Text: Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. (Psalm 51:1)

Today’s Thoughts: In this text David was asking God to have mercy on him. Notice that he did not give anything that he had done as a reason for the Lord to forgive him – he knew that his only hope was God’s loving-kindness and His tender mercies. We never have anything in and of ourselves that enables us to claim God’s mercy, His mercy is free to all who ask for it, and it’s available simply because our God is merciful and loving. We do not deserve His mercy, but He graciously bestows it on us. What would we do without God’s mercy?!

Today’s Testimony: For my first exam for this last semester there were no past-papers available online. We were told which sections to study, and we had the assignment questions as a guide. It was a multiple-choice exam, which is my favourite type of exam, but without the past-papers as a guide it was a bit more complicated to prepare.
On top of that, I had been busy with all sorts of other things and hadn’t devoted sufficient time into studying for that exam. I knew it would be my fault if I didn’t pass, but asked the Lord to forgive me and prayed that He would intervene.
The morning of my exam I read the text I shared today. I asked the Lord to be merciful to me. I felt a sense of peace and trust. I knew I wasn’t totally prepared for the exam, but I knew the Lord could help me. On the way to the exam the Lord and I chatted about the subject of His mercy a little bit more. I knew I didn’t deserve His mercy, but He gave me peace and trust that He would intervene regardless of my failure to thoroughly prepare for the exam.
I went into the exam with an amazing sense of peace which lasted almost the whole two hours. When the last half-hour came around I started panicking that I wouldn’t finish on time. I did finish and still had time to double-check a few of my answers.
God is good! I was sure I’d passed. I did pass – but it’s only because God was merciful to me and also gave me peace. I praise the Lord for His loving-kindness and His tender mercy!

Today’s Task: Praise the Lord that He is merciful, but do not take advantage of His mercy. God’s heart is saddened when we live how we want expecting Him to have mercy on us when we ask Him for it. Live your life for the Lord now. Make the Lord smile. Know that his mercy is available to every repentant sinner. I invite you to turn to Him today and plead for His mercy. We do not deserve it, but we need it and God wants us to have it. God’s mercy is available to you – don’t wait until it’s too late.

Today’s Thanks: O Lord I praise You that You forgive us if we truly repent. I thank You that You have mercy on us when we could never earn or deserve it. I thank You for Your loving-kindness and tender mercy. Lord please help us to turn to You but also to never take advantage of Your mercy. I thank You that You are our God and that we serve a God who cares and is merciful. Lord help us to be merciful to others remembering that You have shown us far more mercy than we could ever give to anyone else. We thank You and we love You Lord. Amen.