** The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. ** Psalm 103:8
The benefits of our Lord.
Mercy, Grace, Infinite Patience, and more Mercy!
As New Testament believers in Christ, we lean on the Lord’s grace. The magnificent gift of being forgiven for all of our sins for all of eternity. We are grateful for the abundant provision, the comfortable and rich life that each of us has as His children. We bask in His generous and favorable Hand in our daily lives.
If we took the time to think on and tried to list all of the favor(grace), gentleness, kindness, and the cups that run over with blessings and protection and goodness, that we receive every day, it would fill a volume of books.
We even sing about it.
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin
God’s grace is what brought joy and fullness to our new life in Him. I am so grateful for His grace. So grateful to be His child.
But if you take another look at today’s verse, there is something very interesting in it.
** The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. ** Psalm 103:8
The Lord is merciful……and plenteous in mercy. Grace once. Mercy twice.
I wonder why that is? The Lord is full of mercy and plenteous in mercy. Grace and slow to anger in the middle. Mercy. Grace. Temperate in Spirit. Mercy.
I wonder what the Lord is trying to say. Why does He repeat mercy?
I wonder if it is because we celebrate His grace all the time.
-I’m so glad to be under God’s grace-
-But for the grace of God, there go I. –
-By the grace of God, I am here today-
-Amazing Grace-
All worthy of praise and thanks.
But Mercy. MERCY. Twice?
Mercy is NOT getting what we deserve.
Grace is getting so much more than we deserve of good things. Oh, how we like that!
But mercy is NOT being dead from drugs. It is NOT having a broken marriage. It is NOT standing at our children’s hospital bedside. It is NOT having destroyed our children’s lives with the sins of our past.
It is NOT having to pay every hour of every day for all the wrong we have done.
My husband talk about that a lot lately. Where would we be had God not poured out His mercy on us? Twice.
Two doses of mercy. One for our past. One for our today. For the sins I committed yesterday in my heart or with my mouth or my hands. For the ones I will commit today.
Mercy. Grace. Mercy.
Because if grace wasn’t covered front and back with His mercy….???
Without it, we would be divorced, addicted, dead and in hell, forever.
Mercy. 2X over. For the destruction we have left behind us. For what we have yet to fail at.
One sacrifice in Christ that covered us with a double dose of His Mercy.
** Bless the Lord, O my soul:
and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits. **
Mercy. Grace. Mercy.
Don’t ever forget them.