by David Brenneman
Last night wasn't good for me physically. Dinner that I prepared didn't sit well with my digestive system. Somewhere around midnight my lone simple prayer was for God's mercy in this physical discomfort that was profound.
It made me think of that prayer later after some semblance of sleep sort of came and the constant times of getting up ended. Mercy had been granted.
Which made me remember Lamentations 3:22-23 NASB "The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness."
Even in the midst of what I was going through He was still there. Still with me.
We often don't consider needing mercy from God.
We often think getting saved was it, we got His unmeritted favor. We often go off and continue to do what His Word says not to, intentionally.
We aren't off the hook after receiving the free gift of salvation. We are certainly in need of His mercy. We need to consider it well that there ARE consequences to intentional sin.
When we participate in sin that the Bible says is sin, and are repeatedly doing it, the book of Romans says that's a practiced sin. We willingly do it with the hopes that it doesn't need to stop. To be Holy as God is Holy requires stopping sin. Willful or otherwise.
We need His mercy to not give us what we do deserve for our willful acts of sin.
Physical discomfort is often the result of various factors. Some we did by accident others intentionally and still others unintentionally due to the actions of others.
I think of my Wife's advice about my eating habits. It's on me if I am willing to live with the consequences of my choices. I could do like millions of people and just pop a pill to curb most of the effects of modern foods or learn to eat differently and forgo the pills.
It's incredibly challenging. Modern foods are essentially geared towards necessitating medical care. As quoted from the movie "The Fugitive" with Tommy Lee Jones "my God. It's a monster. A billion dollar a year monster" referring to the medical industry.
There's little mercy to be had physically when you intentionally eat the way people are taught today.
We should always be sensitive to what the Spirit teaches us. We will also need to be prepared to hear what we don't want to hear. He's going to tell us what needs to stop in our lives.
Grace and mercy go together.
His unmeritted favor works with His not giving us what we deserve.
We need to be more self aware of His mercy and grace. I fail Jesus daily yet He's given me no reason why He would ever leave me. Great indeed is His faithfulness.
When we're under duress we often don't think straight. Another reason for needing His Mercy. Most of the time given a choice, we will choose what feels better rather than what it is God's saying we need.
I am thankful for His mercy not only last night but daily. It's refreshing to know it's new every morning.
My body’s not fully recovered but its getting there. Be thankful that He's not given you what you didn't deserve. It only began with not sending you to Hell for your sins. It's His not giving us what we do deserve daily because of His great mercy and imputed righteousness.
We need to be more intentional about being thankful.
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