Our Heavenly Father created us to be channels, open to receive blessings from Him, but also open to give those blessings received to others. Paul posed the question: What do we have that we did not first receive? God has lavished His grace, love, mercy and forgiveness upon us and requires that we bestow it upon our fellow men. Jesus said, Matthew 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” As we yield to the Indwelling Christ, His life, His mercy will flow through us to others.
God requires that I worship Him for who He is, not for His blessings. He is God. His attributes never come before His name, His person. When I glorify Him as God, I discover His attributes and I find He is a God of love, mercy and grace. When everything seems wrong in my circumstances, this is the time to worship Him as God, not to question Him with my limited understanding. As I worship Him He elevates me to His secret place, and I discover the joy of knowing Him in my darkest hour. In His mercy, He causes a new day to dawn where I discover the beauty of His attributes of grace and mercy, His treasures of darkness.
When the going gets tough it is easy to enter in to unbelief and murmuring. The children of Israel never entered their Promised Land because of this. God had performed many mighty miracles that they all had seen, yet they continued to complain in unbelief that God was not able to take care of them. When we murmur and grumble, it is firstly against God as He has permitted, (not caused), these circumstances. Here is the altar where I bow and worship Him for who He is, my God. He is able to take me through every trial of life and cause me to triumph in Christ, His beloved Son. When my heart is bowed in worship, I discover the glory of His presence and attributes.
Unbelief is always wrong but we find an amazing scripture in Romans 11 of God’s mercy over ruling my unbelief!! Paul writes in this chapter how “blindness”, in part, has come to Israel because of their refusal to accept Jesus as the Messiah, until the fullness of the Gentiles is come in. Romans 11:30-33 “For as you, in times past, have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief. Even so, have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. FOR GOD HATH CONCLUDED THEM ALL IN UNBELIEF, THAT HE MIGHT HAVE MERCY UPON ALL. O the depths of the riches and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgements, and His ways past finding out.”
How amazing! God’s mercy even over rules my unbelief! My unbelief is wrong but the gifts and calling of God are without repentance, (Romans 11:29). God still works with me through His Holy Spirit, in spite of my unbelief, because HIS MERCY ENDURES FOREVER. To receive His mercy is wonderful, but the purpose of the Lord bestowing it upon me is that I may then bestow it on others. As the Holy Spirit begins to produce fruit in our lives, we must also remember to give the fruit away to others. If we keep it to ourselves, it becomes rotten. The purpose of the fruit produced is to continually give it away which makes room for more fruit to grow and bring glory to our Heavenly Father.
God’s attributes have a purpose: To conform us to the image of His Son through His Holy Spirit’s guidance, that we can share the love, grace and mercy of God with others. In spite of my failure at times, my unbelief, I continue to discover that His abundant mercy, surely does, endure forever. Faithful God! Unchanging and true!
Lamentations 3:22-24
“It is of the Lord’s MERCIES that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion….therefore will I hope in Him.”
God’s mercy re-writes my life!
