Devotional Christian » mercy

The Good Samaritan

Patricia Day — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:41:08 +0000

My husband and I, recently travelled for three hours to attend the wedding of a dear friend. The journey was as good as it could be, given that the weather had finally decided to become wintry!

Our return journey unfortunately was marred by an accident. Not a big accident, but not a good situation. We had travelled through white-out conditions on the major highways and turned onto a side road close to home. This was where we encountered more heavy and blowing snow! We could not see the road ahead and it took just seconds for us to realize we were sliding off the road! We came to rest in a snow-filled ditch, and became well and truly stuck and the weather was not being kind! The wind was almost gale force causing almost zero visibility.

We called for help via our auto club and then had to wait. We were told it could be as long as an hour or more! We had no choice but to ‘hunker down’ and wait.

During the time we were entrenched in the ditch – we had so many offers of help from passing motorists. Mostly offering to call for help! Inquiring if we were hurt! What could they do? Their ongoing kindness and concern left us feeling less alone, in our awful situation.

One man had suggested he try and pull us out with the use of a strap – but because we had called for a tow truck, we decided to wait for that. However, as time dragged on and it was certainly not getting any warmer, when another gentleman came along and stopped; looked at our cars’ position in the ditch and reassured us that he’d be able to pull us out, we readily agreed to let him try. He succeeded and then drove behind us for a while, making sure we really were OK! How very kind he was! How very thankful we were for his assistance and for all the other motorists who so readily offered help! So many good samaritans!

Luke 10:33-34 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine and set him on his animal…….

We, thankfully, did not have wounds! But the many good neighbors who stopped to offer help warmed our hearts, just as the good Samaritan in Luke’s story must have surely warmed the spirit of the injured traveller.

We are all called to be good neighbors to each other and the travellers who chose to stop and offer help to us were indeed good examples. They all, despite the bitterness of the wind and cold, put our welfare first in showing such concern. We were very thankful for each one. And, in case you are wondering – yes, we did call the auto club and cancel the tow truck; in fact we did this as soon as we had been pulled back onto the road and found there was no further need for that service.

Prayer: Father God, we were blessed by the many ‘angels’ you sent our way to help us in our time of need, and we pray your abundant favor and blessing upon each soul who showed concern for their neighbors. Whether they realized it or not, they were choosing to be good neighbors to people they did not know; showing mercy because there was a need. We are thankful for each one of them. In Jesus Name, Amen

Patricia Day

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Parenting by Example

Dee Dee Wike — Wed, 18 May 2011 23:43:09 +0000

The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. (Psalm 103:8-13, NIV)

“Do as I say, not as I do.” It is a saying as old as time, isn’t it? It many homes it is the mantra of modern-day parenting. We want our children, especially our teenagers, to grow up doing all the right things we have taught them instead of all the wrong things we did when we were their age. But all too often we set them up for failure by our own example. Then, when they miss the mark that we have set for them, we deal with them harshly forgetting that we were once wayward, too.

For the past couple of years I have struggled as the parent of a young man who is desperately trying to find his way and achieve the independence that will be rightfully his as an adult. At times God’s grace has been present in my parenting, but more often my own strong personality has overshadowed any glimmer of God’s love and mercy. I have dealt more harshly with my son than he deserved, or at least than I had a right to. My own sinful words and actions have caused hurt when grace was needed to heal and to help him through the troubling maze of adolescence.

We want our children to be a godly example for others by making honorable choices consistent with God’s Word, but how can they when we as parents do not model godly behavior or follow the example of our heavenly Father? God’s Word teaches us about the kind of grace we should extend to everyone, especially those closest to us. Yet we allow our children to bring out the worst in us instead of God’s grace in us.

We need only to look in God’s Word for examples of His grace and mercy. If we will extend the same kind of forgiveness and grace to our children that God extends to His own, then we might actually be effective parents who see their children grow up with a heart for God and His ways.

(For more information on raising children in an increasingly challenging culture, read Grace-Based Parenting and Why Christian Kids Rebel by Dr. Tim Kimmel)

When We Need Mercy and Favor

Hariette Petersen — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 09:21:35 +0000

Those we love are hurting. The reasons for their pain may often be self-inflicted. We may have prayed for God to correct them, to help them see the error of their ways; we do not wish them harm or harsh consequence. We do not want them to fall on their faces or be cast down in humiliation. Yet when God begins to move in the lives of His people, in answer to prayers, we often hurt. We hurt for our loved ones’ hurt. We empathize with their inadequacies, their futility, their fears. We agonize over their struggle, their heartache. We need mercy and favor. Are you there with a loved one, now? Like Moses, cry out on their behalf:

“Turn, O Lord! How long? Revoke Your sentence and be compassionate and at ease toward Your servants. O satisfy us with Your mercy and loving-kindness in the morning [now, before we are older], that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad in proportion to the days in which You have afflicted us and to the years in which we have suffered evil.” Psalm 90:13–15.

Moses needed mercy. He begged God to revoke his sentence and be compassionate. The consequences of our mistakes in life are often met with prayers filled with pleas for mercy and pardon. Moses asked for “gladness in proportion to the days” with which the people were afflicted…and “the years” in which they “suffered evil”. We know that God answered that prayer. We know God poured out His blessing upon His people and protected them; He sustained and empowered them. He fulfilled all His promises to them. This is God’s delight.

It brings joy to the Father in heaven to pour out His blessings upon His people. He loves us. He loved the world so much that even before they repented and turned from their wickedness, He sent His only begotten Son to stand in their place for judgment of their sin. Before we loved Him, He loved us. He did not forsake us and will not forsake us. He is faithful and true and it does not matter if we understand our circumstances, our trials, our storms; He does. He knows and never sleeps nor slumbers. He watches over us just like He does the lowly sparrow.

Later in the same Psalm it is written, “And let the beauty and delightfulness and favor of the Lord our God be upon us; confirm and establish the work of our hands—yes, the work of our hands, confirm and establish it.” Psalm 90:17.

We don’t always find ourselves in a quandry and dire circumstances because of wrong-doing or sin. Sometimes it is because of poor judgment, faulty decisions, or impulsive actions. However, it is certain when we turn to our Lord and confess our foolishness, then trust in Him instead of our own intellect and knowledge, that He will have mercy and “confirm and establish the work of our hands”. When we work with the best of intentions, with motives to honor the Lord, He will do as He did the captive Israelites. He will help us rebuild the walls that were torn down. selahV

PRAYER: Oh, Lord, we have failed. We strayed from Your perfect plan for our lives. We know we sometimes get ahead of You, choose things we should not choose. Forgive us, Lord. Bring us back into the pathway of Your will. Restore to us the days the locust has eaten. Incline Your ear to us, our Father, and hear our plea for help.

ANOTHER REASON FOR SHOWING MERCY

Hariette Petersen — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:43:04 +0000

I stopped at the stop sign and looked both ways before I pulled out in front of a police cruiser coming toward the intersection. I made it across the intersection and, truthfully, had plenty of time to spare. But I just knew that officer was going to stop me, so I pulled over to the side of the road and stopped, pulled out my driver’s license and rolled down my window. He asked to see proof of insurance, then wanted to know if I thought he should let me go with a verbal warning. I said, that would be nice. I explained I was just on my way to the Dollar Store down the street. He asked where I worked. I said, “I’m a homemaker, I live four houses back down this street.”

He informed me that if he’d T-boned me, the ticket would have been 250.00 dollars. I gasped. “Which would be worse, a ticket or being T-boned?” I answered, “being T-boned.” He asked me what I would do, if I were him. I said, “I guess I’d give me a ticket, but I sure do hope you show me mercy.”

He stood there looking at my license; I figured he was trying to decide if a 62-year-old lady could afford a ticket. He stood there at least another minute, then handed my license back and said, “Go on to the Dollar Store; and drive carefully.” I can’t begin to explain the depth of relief that filled my mind when that officer let me go with a verbal warning. I literally trembled at the thought of having to pay a 250.00-dollar ticket. Just last week my husband had been given a ticket for failure to stop at a stop sign long enough. It was 149.00 dollars. I needed mercy.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” Matthew 5:7

In light of this verse, I can’t help but wonder why the officer showed me mercy. Maybe he wasn’t sure if I’d stopped at the stop-sign long enough; after all, he wasn’t sitting behind me. Maybe he was going faster than the 25 MPH speed limit on that street and had a reckoning of his own. I don’t know. But this verse seems to speak to our situation–whatever reason he had for showing me mercy. Perhaps, somewhere in the past few days I’ve shown someone some undeserved mercy. I don’t know if I have or not. But I do know that I experienced mercy today and feel a desire to show mercy to others as a result. I never really looked at this verse in quite the same way as I do now. I have to ask myself, how merciful am I to others? Could I be more merciful? Could I allow for another to make mistakes and not be upset with them? This verse gives ample reason to do so, don’t you think?

PRAYER: Lord, keep us ever mindful of the new mercies You show us each day. When we are wronged, help us show the mercy we are given through You.

Justice, Mercy, and Humility

Chris Roberts — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:22:12 +0000

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8

Micah 6:8 presents a job description for the Christian life. We are to be people who do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.

We are tempted to think that we have done well as Christians when we pray, read our Bibles, go to church, and avoid sinful activity. These things are good but if this is all we do we would be little better than the Pharisees who knew their Bibles, always went to church, and never committed the “big sins” (or they were at least careful not to get caught).

God has told you what is good. Do justice! Be a man or woman who seeks to treat all people according to God’s standard of justice. Do not cheat people in business. Fight oppression. Defend the defenseless. Also love mercy! Take food to those who are hungry, clothing to those who are naked. Visit prisoners. Sponsor children living in poverty around the world. Pay for wells to bring fresh water to remote African villages. Also walk humbly with God! Do not be boastful in your life and work. You will not deserve credit for any of the good things you do. All your good is the result of God working within you. Be humble in all things as you walk with God. That last part implies that you do, in fact, walk with him. Your life is not your own and you are to follow your Savior wherever he leads.

It is not hard to find opportunities to fight sin. Sin comes looking for us and we deal with it every moment of every day. But to find opportunities to do good you must step out your door with your eyes open. Needs are all around us but we have become skilled at turning a blind eye. Open your eyes and see all around you the places where the Lord would have you do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with him.