mercy

Uncertain Times

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I had just finished shopping and was pushing my cart to the car. I assumed the woman walking toward me was planning to do some shopping. So when she stopped and spoke to me, I was a little surprised. She asked if I had some spare change so she could get a bite to eat. I said no. Then she approached the next car. He too said no. I didn’t see which direction she went after the second rejection.

I wondered if she noticed how full my cart was as I said no. I wonder if she realized that I had bought things I needed and then some things I just thought I needed. Oh. She didn’t know the amount of money in my bank account. She didn’t know I had cash in my wallet, but the bills were bigger than I was prepared to hand over to a stranger. Hungry or not, she didn’t get my money. It was reserved for other purposes.

I always feel awkward when a stranger approaches me. I couldn’t lie and say I didn’t have any money. Because I did have a little cash on me. And I knew that a little spare change wouldn’t be enough to feed her. Plus. There’s always that uncertainty that she really needed food. Or did she need a fix? I don’t know. I don’t mean to judge. I’m just always wary about strangers approaching me for money. Oh. There have been times that I’ve shared a few dollars. Just not today.

Did I do the right thing? Was my decision the best one? I have no idea. It’s not that I’m heartless or unkind. I am cautious and concerned. I am suspicious of strangers who walk up to me out of nowhere.

It probably took a lot of courage to walk up to a stranger and ask for money. What if she really was hungry? What if she hadn’t eaten in a few days? She did look a little unkempt. But that could also have been arranged. Just don’t bathe or comb your hair for a few days, and you will start to look different.

God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. Psalms 46:1

I wonder what I would do if I was hungry and needed food but had no money. Would I be bold enough to approach a stranger in the middle of a parking lot? Would I notice their overflowing cart filled with odds and ends? Would I wonder if they were lying when they said they had no spare change? Would I be as kind and considerate as she was when I said no? What if she was an angel unaware and I missed my opportunity to bless her? What if I could have been Jesus to her today and I blew my chance? I’ll never know.

Oh. I may someday know what it’s like to be hungry and penniless. These times sure are getting tougher. Gas prices are high. Food prices are high. Tempers are short. There are wars and rumors of war. Things are unsettled these days. And things could get much worse. So I can’t say I’ll never have days where I have nothing to eat. I can’t say that I’ll never have to wander through parking lots begging for food or money. I can’t say I’ll always be freshly bathed.

I see those people standing on street corners and at the entrance and exit ramps of the freeway. Oh. I see their faces. I read their signs. If I put myself in their shoes, I would probably hand them a few dollars. But more often than not, I try to put them in my shoes. I wonder if they really have money in the bank and just don’t want to work. I wonder if their job is begging on street corners. Is begging a new career option? I wonder where they lay their head at night. I wonder where they store their winter coats in the off season. I wonder if they are starving and when they last ate. I wonder how many people actually give them money. And I wonder, after months on end, why I still see them standing there holding a sign.

Life is full of hard choices. Life is also full of hard knocks. Good decisions aren’t always easy to make. Regardless of which side of the equation you’re on. If you have plenty or if you’re in need. One decision could change the course of a life forever. And it could go either way. No one knows what tomorrow holds. But we know who holds tomorrow. Whether in plenty or in want, we can be content in the Lord’s hands.

We know that our God is always ready and able to help us in our time of need. All we have to do is call on his name. Oh. He may not provide a hot meal at the exact moment we need it. But he may. He may not provide employment when the unemployment checks stop. But he may. He may not heal us from an awful disease. But he may. He may allow us to wait years on end to see an answer to the prayer that we’ve been praying. He may allow us to suffer in pain with no end in sight. Throughout difficulties, he continues to love us. Our suffering may be of our own doing. And it may not. But God is always faithful. His love never fails. And it endures to the end. Even when others ignore us or fail us. God is with us.

Verdict

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The jury signaled they had made a decision. The judge called the families into the courtroom. Instructions were given to those in attendance. No verbal reaction to the verdict was allowed. Or law enforcement would escort the vocal responders out of the courtroom. The defendant stood to hear his fate. Each count was read with the decision. At the end of the reading, the defendant collapsed with relief. He was acquitted of all charges.

The judge asked the jury if the verdict was unanimous. Yes. They said. This eighteen year old man is now free to live his life. He could walk out of that courtroom as a free man. He could no longer be tried for these offenses ever again.

Regardless, this young man’s life is now forever changed. He’s already been receiving police protection for many months. He will most likely be forced to move out of state and become incognito for awhile. His career plans may have to be rethought. He’s been offered a possible internship. But when will his life ever return to normal? Or, is this his new normal? Life will never be the same.

Some are calling him a hero. Others say he’s a fool. He says he acted in self defense. Others call him a domestic terrorist. A white supremacist. We could argue back and forth for hours. We’re a country divided. We’re a country that needs to get back to loving and obeying God.

Tragedy doesn’t usually give you a heads up. It just happens. And then the next events are crucial for all involved. That’s exactly what happened in this young man’s situation. Some say he shouldn’t have ever gotten involved that night. He was too young. Too inexperienced. Too eager to be a hero. But the events of that night are forever forged in our nation’s history. There is no going back.

Do what is right, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8

Once again, the country is torn by a legal decision. Some believe this young man should have been put in prison for life with no chance of parole. Others believe the right decision was made. There will, no doubt, be many strong discussions about this verdict. What did the defense do right? What did the prosecution do wrong? And vice versa. Could or should anything have been done differently?

News outlets and social media are all ablaze with opinions and legal analysis. Influencers are sharing their uneducated opinions on the outcome of the trial. Some of their followers are unfollowing them, because their beliefs are at an obvious difference. And everyone has a choice of who they follow and who they don’t. Influencers are also blocking people who sharply disagree, because they don’t want naysayers clogging their feed.

Some are calling for rioting in the city. Others are begging for peace. Some disagree with the verdict, but they’re asking for everyone to accept the judgment. Some cities are rioting. Others are claiming justice was served.

It’s easy to judge someone when we haven’t walked in their shoes. We may think we know what’s best when the problem is someone else’s. It’s easy to make decisions when it affects them and not us. Because we always do the right thing. Don’t we? It’s always the other person who’s wrong. That’s what we think. Because if we think we’re right, then the other person is wrong.

The defendant, the defense team, the jury, the judge and his family have received death threats. People are taking this case personally. Some have decided that racism is involved. Others don’t agree. Can we we find any common ground? Can’t we come to the table and discuss our differences? Can we agree to disagree? Can we no longer seek peace and pursue it? Why are we so divided these days?

I read that it’s easy to take a stand when it doesn’t cost you anything. So what’s the answer? We’ve got to get America back to God.

I wonder. What would happen if we actually did what was right? What if we truly loved mercy? And what if we put all our effort into walking humbly with our God? This world would be in much different shape than it is today. The only verdict we would be waiting for would be when we enter eternity and hear the words “Welcome home, my child. Well done, my good and faithful servant. Enter into your eternal reward.”

Not Knowing

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It’s easy to deny the truth. Especially when it’s painful. Especially when it’s right and I’m wrong. I want to run in the opposite direction. Away from the truth, so maybe then I won’t have to face it. The truth isn’t real if I don’t acknowledge it. Right? But what if I really don’t know the truth? What if the truth hasn’t been shared with me? What happens then?

She doesn’t believe in eternity. She says she thinks about what happens after death. But she doesn’t believe in an afterlife. Her husband is frightened to even think of it. They don’t know the truth about eternity. They’re living a life against God’s truth. And they don’t know it. Are they living a lie?

He says he’s a good person. He believes that being good is good enough. He doesn’t seem to think he needs God in his life, so he’s living life on his own terms. And he thinks that’s enough. Does he know that being good can send him to hell, because being good alone isn’t good enough for heaven. Only God knows his heart.

She says you love who you love. It doesn’t matter who. You just want to find someone to love. Someone who will love you. It doesn’t matter if a man loves another man. Or if a woman loves another woman. That’s what she says. I wonder if she know what God’s word says about that kind of love. If she does, she’s denying the truth.

How many people are there left in the world who can actually say they don’t know they are sinning against God?  How many?  Do they deny the truth?  Or have they never been told?

Do we acknowledge the truth even if it hurts? Do we follow the truth even if it isn’t popular or politically correct? Do we stand up for truth even though we may be persecuted? Can we honestly say we don’t know the truth?

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Luke 23:34

When Jesus was arrested, the Roman soldiers were just doing their job. Oh. It’s easy to say that. Were they just doing what they were told? Or were they willing participants in his arrest and torture? I wonder if some of them followed him from a distance. I wonder if some believed his story. I wonder if they knew what they were getting themselves in for on that fateful night. Did they know they were taking down God Almighty? Would they have dared to arrest him had they known?

How could they not know what they were doing as they found him guilty of a crime he didn’t commit? Who is the guilty party here, anyway? They may have known the truth. They may not have. But those guards didn’t know they were part of God’s ultimate plan. They didn’t know what they didn’t know.

As Jesus hung on that cross, he asked his Father to forgive those who had tortured and crucified him. He begged for mercy for those who lied and found him guilty of a crime he didn’t commit. Instead of asking for punishment to fall on his accusers and abusers, he asked for God to rain down his mercy on their souls.

Heavenly Father, I pray that those who don’t know the truth or choose not to believe it will come to an understanding of the truth. Open their wills to seek and to know you. Penetrate their hearts with your love. Open their ears to hear the message of salvation. I ask that you will have mercy on their ignorance. They don’t know that you came to forgive them. To save them from their sins. I pray that the truth will set them free. Father, have mercy.

Friends, I realize that what you did to Jesus was done in ignorance. Acts 3:17

Dirty Hands

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He walked into my office and introduced himself. He shook my hand. I knew he would do that. He seems the friendly type. But what he didn’t know was that I had eaten crackers earlier and had licked the salt off my fingers. He also didn’t know that I had washed them afterwards. He didn’t know what my hands had touched, yet he reached for my hand with eagerness. He accepted my handshake regardless of what my hands had previously been doing. No questions asked. He assumed my hands were a safe place.

I think about that. How often do I reach for a hand not knowing where it has been. Not knowing what hurt it has felt. Not knowing what trouble has reached out to place a scar on that skin. Do I reach for the hand with eagerness or reservations? Do I wonder what that hand has held in the past? Oh. I may know of the troubles, but do I ignore them or face them? I want to look them in the eye and offer hope. I may not know that the hand has recently wiped tears from the eyes of its owner. I may not know that the hand has recently held the hand of a lover or of an abuser. I may not know that the hand has been bruised so often by stains of addiction or has been grasped in praise of great accomplishments. But does it matter? Does it matter what the hand has done? Is it not still worthy to be touched? To be held?

That new hand I shake may have just held a newborn babe. Or it may have stirred a pot of stew. Perhaps that hand has reached in the dirt to plant a seed. Or held a sign in protest. That hand may have been raised in pledge to a waving flag. Reached for a handout or given one. But what if that hand has beaten another? Or forced its plans on weaker ones? What if that hand has stolen out of greed? Or just been handed a pink slip? One never knows what the other hand has done. Do we turn it away out of fear? Or do we reach out with a promise of redemption and acceptance?

Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly. John 7:24

How often does someone reach for my hand and wonder what sins are staining it? They may be unaware that my hand is struggling to hold too tightly to my never ending wants. Or that my hands have allowed a new opportunity to slip through my fingers. They may not know that my hand has reached out in a sympathetic hug. Or a congratulatory shake. Perhaps my hand has recently received a stinging slap of rejection. Or has given one. Perhaps my hand could use a soft squeeze of forgiveness. Will they accept me for who I am? Or will they have expectations that I can’t meet?

How often do I pull my hand back from the one reaching out in need? Suppose the hand reaches out in acceptance and faith. Perhaps it’s time to reach for the needy hand and fill it. Or return a favor given in love. Instead of judging the hand grasping for yours, extend an offer of support and friendship. That’s what I would hope would be extended to me. Can’t I do that for the next hand reaching out to me?

Mercy for Sinners

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David had sinned.  Horribly.  It was the type of sin that has brought down giants.  And David had slain giants.  Bears.  Lions.  While he was a boy tending his father’s sheep.  He had even killed a man giant.  A man so large that the other soldiers were dwarfed by him.  Yet David stood up to him.   And David won.  David killed the giant with a stone and sling.  Shot him right square in the forehead and then cut off his giant head.  Oh.  David had won that battle.  He had saved his country.

Yet when it came time to slay the giant of lust, David lost.  He couldn’t conquer the desires of his mind and body.  He had allowed the sight of a beautiful married woman to undo him.  Oh.  He had every right to walk on the roof of his house in the middle of the day.  And she had every right to bathe in privacy on the roof of her house.  It just so happened, that both events took place at the same time.  And David couldn’t control his desire to have this woman.  To make her his own.  At any cost.  Possibly without her permission.  Oh.  He wasn’t thinking of the cost at that moment.  He was thinking of how great it would be to conquer yet another beautiful woman.  Never mind that he had many wives at his disposal.   Never mind that she was married to one of his top warriors.  One of the men who would fight faithfully to the end for this king.  For the king who took advantage of his wife while he was at war.

The woman later returned to David with news of her pregnancy.  You see.  Her husband was at war, so he wasn’t the father.  Everyone would know of the charge of unfaithfulness.  Even if they didn’t know who the father was.  How could David come forward and claim the child as his?  There was punishment for adultery.  Death.  So David did the unthinkable.  Again.   He stooped even lower to hide his adultery.  He made sure this woman’s husband, a mighty warrior, was killed in battle.  Put him on the front lines and then withdraw.  Make sure he is killed.  That was David’s command to General Joab.  And the General obeyed.  Did he really have a choice?  He made sure Uriah the Hittite was killed.   And he made sure that King David knew the man was dead.

After the pregnant widow’s mourning period was over, David did the honorable thing.  He took her into his home and made her his wife.  His wife who was already pregnant with his child.  But no one would be the wiser.  Right?

Perhaps David was too busy in his backslidden condition to remember that God sees everything.  God knows everything.  God is everywhere.  And what is done in secret is still seen and judged by God.   We can’t escape the all-seeing eye of God.

Oh.  How the mighty have fallen for lesser things.  But sin starts small.  And it grows into uncontrollable urges and desires.  It grows into believing that consequences are for others.  Not for me.  I deserve to have whatever I want whenever I want it.  Or so thought David.

But the consequences were great.  And oh.  How he fell.  Perhaps not publicly.  But privately, David fell.  It took a brave man named Nathan who provided wise counsel to open David’s eyes to see how he had lost control of himself.  He knew there would be severe punishment.  In some instances, it would mean death for the offender.  But God had mercy on David.  God spared David’s life when he didn’t have to.  You see.  God wasn’t finished with David.

But the baby who was conceived out of lust and passion was doomed to die.  He only lived for seven days.  And in those seven days, David was a broken man.  He fasted.  He prayed.  He begged God to save his son.  But no.  This baby would not live to be a reminder of the adultery and murder that one man’s lust had caused.  This baby would not survive.

Oh.  During those seven days, David wept and pleaded with God to save his son.  He humbled himself before God.  He asked for God’s forgiveness.  God heard his prayer.

Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love.  Because of your compassion, blot out the stain of my sin.  Psalm 51:1

God is merciful.

God forgave David of the horrible sins of adultery and murder.  Oh.  When the mighty fall, they can be picked up.  Shined up.  They can be forgiven.  But they will be scarred.  They will be bruised and bumped around.  There will be consequences.   But their sins will change color.  They will turn from scarlet to white as snow.  Their sins will be forgotten.  As if their sins were never committed.  As if David had never considered adultery or murder.  As if he had never done those things.  Because when God forgives, he forgets.  And that’s what we usually forget.  We forget that God forgets.

Oh.  We are unworthy.  Our sins are many and are hearts are so human.  We fail so often.  But God will forgive us each time we sin.  If we ask him to forgive us.

Who knows if David ever forgot that son who lived for seven days.  Somehow through the bumpy start of their marriage, David and Bathsheeba moved on.  God gave them more sons.  Their next son was Solomon.  And God loved Solomon.  His name means “beloved of the Lord”.

It’s hard to imagine biblical history without Solomon as the next king of Israel.  It’s hard to imagine who would have worn the title of wisest person who ever lived, if Solomon hadn’t been born.  It’s hard to imagine who would have built the temple of Jerusalem, if not for Solomon.  You see.  If David and Bathsheeba hadn’t been together, all of Solomon’s accomplishments wouldn’t exist.  But because God showed mercy on Solomon’s father, David, Solomon existed.  He ruled the nation of Israel.  He built the temple that King David only dreamed of building.  He was the wisest of all men.  If not for God’s mercy, would Solomon have ever existed?

We can never out-give or out-forgive God.  He is merciful when we least deserve it.

Day Lilies

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I look out the dining room window and see the row of day lilies below.  They seem to bloom later in the season than other day lilies in the neighborhood.  Could it be because mine were planted in a shady area?  I see several blooms that will open in the next few days.  But today.  One flower has opened.  It is a beautiful rust color.

I’m surprised the flower had a chance to bloom.  In years’ past, the deer have eaten all the blossoms before they ever had a chance to open.  Maybe this is my lucky year.  Maybe this year, all the flowers will get their chance to shine.  Maybe they’ll be able to open.  If only for a day.  But they will make that day count.  Oh.  These flowers do make their one day of beauty shine.  They are breathtaking.

These day lilies have a short lifespan.  One day.  But in that one day, they can bring a smile to one’s face.  One look at the beauty of God’s handiwork will send hope for the flower that blooms tomorrow.  For this one day, though, this open flower has the power to spread cheer and excitement.

The faithful love of the Lord never ends.  His mercies never cease.  Great is his faithfulness.  His mercies begin afresh every morning.           Lamentations 3:22-23

I’m reminded that there is also another part of God’s beauty that lasts only for a day.  God’s mercy.  Oh.  He promises mercy for each day.  He promises just enough mercy for this one day.  And this day alone.  Tomorrow another bud of mercy will bloom.

Just as I see the row of day lilies waiting their turn to bloom, so I think of God’s row of mercies lined up for me this week.  I can’t use those mercies yet.  I must wait until tomorrow for God’s new mercy to hold me through tomorrow’s worries and troubles.  I consider that today is still new and fresh with plenty of mercy waiting to sweep over me.  Whenever I call on God to pour out his mercy on me today, he won’t disappoint.  He will shower me with enough mercy for the moment.  For the hour.  For the day.  He never fails.  He never disappoints.  At times, I feel the worries and fears begin to creep in.  But they slip away as mercy rains down on me.  God is faithful and showers me with mercy when I need it.

So when I think of my troubles, I know the mercy maker is waiting to pour a fresh batch of mercy over me whenever I call.  I think of the worry deer eating away at my budding hopes.  I know the worry may threaten to destroy my peace and faith.  But I also know another thing.  My God is the giver of life and the renewer of mercy.  So for today, I have all the mercy I need.  For today, the one day lily that is blooming is enough.  Tomorrow is on the horizon.  I don’t know what it will bring.  But this one thing I do know.  There will be a fresh outpouring of mercy waiting for me.  All I have to do is receive it.

Mercy for the day.