I've been thinking a lot lately about the vast mercy of God and it has been the greatest resting place for my heart. I love His mercy. On this trip I've been reading portions from Tozer's "The Knowledge of the Holy," and his chapter on God's mercy has touched me deeply...
"When through the blood of the everlasting covenant we children of the shadows reach at last our home in the light, we shall have a thousand strings to our harps, but the sweetest may well be the one tuned to sound forth most perfectly the mercy of God."
One of my favorite meditations about Jesus these days has been about Him and the women caught in adultery. Some people brought her to Him as she was caught in the very act and deserving to be stoned to death as the law commanded. Jesus could have done and said anything. I love His heart displayed. So there she was, guilty, humiliated, full of shame, and face to face with Jesus. In her place of shame, He showed the kindest mercy. He could have easily had her stoned. He could have used her as a public example and hurt her deeply by denouncing her life and actions in front of the crowd. But in this place of vulnerability, He gave her a way out. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
He possesses all power, created the heavens and the earth, and He is full of mercy and lovingkindness. So many of us are in the place of this woman caught in adultery over and over again. Maybe not as publicly, but we find ourselves broken, hurting, condemned by our own hearts and others, guilty, full of pain and rejection. His heart is the same now, He does not condemn us, but calls us to Arise and choose life and truth. It's only because of His mercies that we are not consumed. Sometimes in my mind I feel like His love is going to come to an end, that He searches the deepest places of my heart and is disappointed, that I'll never fully be who He wants me to be. I feel as though somehow I can exhaust the limits of His mercy towards me. But it's impossible because His mercy is not something that He can take on and off like a jacket. It's such an intricate part of His very nature and character, His innermost being. He is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. Mercy exists because He is merciful.
He doesn't give us what we deserve but looks on us with great compassion and understands that we are but dust. Truly there is no other god in this world that offers this mercy and love. There are millions of 'gods' and multitudes of religions in this world, but there is only one God that freely lavishes us with love.
"Mercy never began to be, but from eternity was; So it will never cease to be. It will never be more since it is in itself infinite; and it will never be less because the infinite cannot suffer dimunition. Nothing that has occurred or will occurr in heaven or earth or hell can change the tender mercies of our God. Forever His mercy stands, a boundless, overwhelming immensity of divine pity and compassion." -Tozer
