Boundless Mercy

I awoke on Monday with such a ‘blah feeling’. It was not that time of month so no excuses there. I sat on my comfy couch, with coffee in hand, turned on the light and talked to God; “Lord, You MUST show me what my problem is! I want You to tell me so I can fix it.” I began reading my Bible and God gave me an "Aha!" moment.

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Matthew 12:7 But you would not have condemned those who are not guilty if you knew the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to be merciful; I don’t want your sacrifices.

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You see, the day before I was rattling off to my husband a list of things he did that upset me. Poor man! In addition I had been stewing daily over my children’s behavior and frankly felt like giving up this entire thing called homeschooling! On Monday as I read God’s word I should not have been surprised to get a message straight from the Lord. This is what He spoke to me through Matthew 12:7, "Dawn, you condemned your husband and the kids who are not guilty. No matter how much you ‘do right’ by making meals, loving your spouse, serving your children, homeschooling with this method and that method, keeping a clean house, being a housewife, reading the word, spending time with Me, that is all worthless if you are not merciful. Dawn, I do not want you to focus on those ‘sacrifices’. I love you and will take care of those things. For now I want you to be merciful to your family."

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I began to search the Scriptures and found out what God thought of my ‘sacrifices’. I encourage you to read the same verses: 1 Samuel 15:22-23, Psalm 40:6, Isaiah 1:11-17, Jeremiah 7:21-23, Hosea 6:6, Psalm 51:16-17, Proverbs 21:3, Micah 6:6-8, Mark 12:33.

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Sacrifice: Anything offered to God. Yep, that’s what I was doing when I was trying to be a good wife, be a good mom, be a good homeschooler, etc, etc. God showed me over and over in His Word that what I was sacrificing was not bad, but MOST importantly I needed to be merciful.

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At this point I decided to look up the meanings of the other words the Lord kept speaking to me. Mercy – Forbearance from inflicting harm as punishment, compassionate treatment of an offender. Exercise compassion or forgiveness, willingness to spare or help. When my husband or my children offend me in some way God asks me to show them mercy. I then looked up "offender" in the dictionary because I was not certain it was truly offense that I was dealing with. I’m a slow learner! Offender – To cause to feel hurt or resentful; wound; ANNOY.
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ANNOY. That’s it! My children can often annoy me (sad, but true). When they sin or do not do things as I expect them to I get annoyed. God in His faithfulness directed me to another verse. Romans 2:1 says that I am just as bad as those I am annoyed with. I do these very same things according to God. He also showed me that I am blameless and without a single fault when I am before Him. Colossians 1:22. Wow! God shows me mercy and grace every day when I do not deserve it! That is what God wants of me when I am offended by my children, husband or anyone for that matter.

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I am silly to believe my children will not sin simply because I have taught them the right way. God says in His word that we are bent toward evil from childhood in Genesis 8:21. God is patient and does not give up on me when I come to Him with a repentant heart again and again. In Nehemiah 9:28-31 God repeatedly shows graciousness and mercy to those who do not even deserve it. What an awesome God we serve!

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God confirmed my thoughts after studying Isaiah 1:11-17. He is tired of my sacrifices. I am done sacrificing and ready to show mercy. I still have a long way to go and to be totally honest I do not understand all of God’s ways. To me, it makes more sense to do good for the Lord, sacrificing things for Him, but He says in His word, “I want you to be merciful! I have had enough of your sacrifices.” How can I possibly argue with that?

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Thank you Lord and please help me to be merciful.

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Prayer:

Eternal, Merciful God, thank You for leading me by Your Word. You speak to me clearly and give me perfect solutions to cure my sin. Please help me to keep Your Word at the front of my mind and heart at all times. Amen

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Challenge: Take the time to read each of the verses in this devotional. Each one is linked to Bible Gateway and will allow you to read them in several translations. If you struggle with being merciful to others, do your own in depth study of God's mercy poured out for you. It will change your heart for the better!

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Dawn Borris 2009