The Mercy Of God

Introduction

Mercy is God’s Nature, God’s Character

If someone were to ask you to describe your father, you would probably say things like he is tall or average height, dark or fair in complexion, likes jazz music, enjoys watching documentaries, has a good sense of humor or he is very strict, he is a disciplinarian. In Matthew 6:9, God is referred to as Our Father in Heaven. In Matthew 6:29 He is called Heavenly Father and Ephesians 4:6 calls Him God and Father of all. So, if someone were to ask you to describe God, our Father in heaven, what would your answer be? One of the key attributes of God is that He is merciful. There’s no way you can talk about who God is, what God is like and not refer to the mercy of God. You can’t talk about how God relates with people, how God responds to situations and not say something about the mercy of God. Mercy is a vital part of God’s character. Merciful is who God is, merciful is God’s name. In 1 Corinthians 1:3, God is called the Father of Mercies and God of all Comfort.

Luke 6:36 tells us that just as God, Our Father is merciful in His dealings with mankind, we too His children, should be merciful in the way we relate and deal with people.

When we say God is merciful, we are simply saying that God is a forgiving God. God doesn’t keep a long list of the things we have done to offend Him and keep referring to the list every now and then. God doesn’t find it difficult to forgive people. God gives us not just another chance, but many chances, many opportunities to repent and turn away from our sinful ways. This is mercy in action. God is rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4), He is generous and liberal with His forgiveness. God forgives like no earthly father does (Micah 7:18-19, Isaiah 1: 18-19).

When we say God is merciful, we mean that God does not deal with us according to our sins, the kind of life we live, the wrong attitudes we frequently display. He isn’t quick to give us the punishment we deserve (Psalm 103:10-12, Nehemiah 9:18-19). He is slow to anger. He puts up with a lot of our failings, weaknesses and shortcomings. His mercy makes Him exercise a lot of restraint when dealing with us. God is a Consuming Fire (Deuteronomy 4:24, Hebrews 12:29), yet because of His mercy, He doesn’t lose His temper easily, fly off the handle and instantly send fire, thunder and brimstone to do away with us (Psalm 145:8, Exodus 34:6-7). God is a fierce Lion, He is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5), but His mercy keeps Him from ripping us to pieces when we sin against Him and offend Him.

When we say God is merciful, it means God abounds in love and is good to all, even those that don’t know Him or care about Him. He freely gives and shows love to all people. There’s so much love in God for everyone irrespective of age, tribe, nationality, status and position in society. Some people find it easy to love and associate with only people from their own tribe, some others only people who belong to a particular social class. Not God! His love reaches to everyone no matter who you are, no matter how you look, no matter what you have or don’t have. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works (Psalm 145:9).

When we say God is merciful, we are referring to the compassionate heart of God. God is full of compassion (Psalm 116:5, Psalm 145:8). He feels deeply the pain and suffering people are going through (Hebrews 4:15) and moved by His love and mercy, He arises to do something about their situation. You can feel sorry for someone and not do a thing about what the person is going through. God doesn’t just feel sorry for people or pity people going through tough times. His heart goes out to them (Luke 7:12-15). Moved by compassion, He does something to change the situation of the unsaved (Mark 6:34), the sick (Matthew 14:13-14, Matthew 20:30-34), the hungry, those experiencing lack (Isaiah 49:10), those oppressed and suffering (Isaiah 30:18, Isaiah 49:13). When your situation changes from unsaved to saved, sick to healed, single to married, barren to fruitful, unemployed to employed, poor to wealthy and prosperous, the mercy of God has located you. The compassionate heart of God has been opened to you.

Mercy is God’s sovereign choice. God shows mercy to whomever He decides to show mercy and no one can fault, question or invalidate His choice of whom to show mercy (Exodus 33:19, Romans 9:18). God doesn’t depend or rely on man’s recommendation for whom to show mercy. God doesn’t seek people’s opinion about who He should show mercy to. If He did, there would be no hope for people like Paul, rapists, terrorists, murderers and many people we believe belong in the hottest part of hell, yet God in His mercy has continued to reach out to such people and bring them into the Kingdom of God.