Great Mercy For The Lowly
Psalm 119:156 ESV says, “Great is your mercy, O Lord; give me life according to your rules.” I also love how the New English Translation words this verse. “Your compassion is great, O Lord. Revive me, as you typically do!”
So often, we come to God with a mindset that believes we have to convince him to bring restoration. When we mess up or just feel down, we can buy into a lie that we have to prove to God that we are worth his attention and help.
We bargain with God and try to make a case for why he should step in and help us. We tell God we will live for him or try to show him how we will uphold our end of some cosmic deal. Even King David had this perspective in his prayers, saying in Psalm 30:8-10 NIV,
To you, Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: “What is gained if I am silenced, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? Hear, Lord, and be merciful to me; Lord, be my help.”
Yet even David’s righteous prayers were not needed to compel the Lord to help. See how David’s prayer ultimately is for mercy and help. Perhaps, in desperation, David considered that his commitment to praise would have some amout of weight on God’s decision to intervene. But the conclusion of Psalm 30 shows us how God responds to our needs not based on our campaigning, but on his goodness and love. “You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever” (Psalm 30:11-12).
It’s not that David bargained with God to get a better deal. David expressed his need for God’s mercy from a place of need: wailing and mourning in sackcloth. God stepped into this place of desperation and brought merciful joy with singing and dancing. He transformed the brokenness into joy—something only God can do.
God’s mercy is not something we earn, but something we recieve. There’s nothing we can do to better our odds of receiving mercy in the form of accomplishments or religious striving. Nothing we can do can make up for the brokenness and sin that digs the hole of our trouble.
Only one thing positions us to receive God’s mercy and comfort: humble prayers of faith.
God’s mercy is extended to all who are willing to call out and recieve the gift. God has always been ready to extend his compassion to us, but we put our arms out and keep God at bay. We stand far away and try to fix our mistakes on our own first. This will always be a futile pursuit. For every place that we try to patch up on our own, we are only limiting the flow of God’s endless grace to bring the healing we need.
God’s custom is to extend grace and mercy to his people. His heart of love has established a stronghold of refuge for every person to run to for safety. The enemy wants us to believe that our salvation is earned through God-approved works of self-righteousness. The truth is much greater. Salvation is a gift extended from a mercy-filled God given to the lowly of heart.
Receive God’s mercy and comfort today, and set aside striving.
