Goodness and Mercy

I Plead For MercyA mother once approached Napoleon seeking a pardon for her son. The emperor replied that the young man had committed a certain offense twice and justice demanded death.

"But I don't ask for justice,? the mother explained. "I plead for mercy.?

"But your son does not deserve mercy,? Napoleon replied.

"Sir,? the woman cried, "it would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask for.?

"Well, then,? the emperor said, "I will have mercy.? And he spared the woman's son.

Luis Palau, "Experiencing God's Forgiveness,? Multnomah Press, 1984of the contempt of the proud.

As Children of God, we believe that the Word of God is true. Which also means that we expect Goodness and Mercy to follow us everywhere we go. We understand what Mercy can do. We have confidence that Mercy can cover our current trials and tribulations. Mercy in a biblical sense is the pity, compassion or kindess that God extends towards us. I don’t know about yout but there have been times when I have run out of options. All I could say, was Lord have Mercy on me.

Some people use mercy like a get out jail free card. Do whatever you want and a sk for mercy afterwards. My brothers and sisters I’m here to tell you today, that God’s mercy is soo such more. Our text today is another one of the Songs of Ascent. The Songs that the Pilgrims sang on their way to Jerusalem 3 times each year.

Ps 123 To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens! Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he has mercy upon us. Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us, for we have had more than enough of contempt. Our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of those who are at ease, of the contempt of the proud.”

Our text demonstrates how one can communicate with their eyes. It’s called eye language, the message we send with our eyes. Your eye language can say a lot about you. Our eye language at times reveals our emotions or even if we’re telling the truth. Your eyes: you stare with them, wink with them, rub them, shift them and even roll them. Your eyes can speak volumes about who you are and what you feel.

The bible says that we lift our eyes; we gaze towards the heavens where our Father lives. Why? because Christians understand that all our help comes from the Lord. Just like a maid looks to her mistress or a servant looks to his master for help. Our eye language conveys the fact that we have a need, to the authority, over us without uttering a single word.

Just like a child looks to their parents for their needs. Our dog even has a certain look he gives us when he needs to go outside. Eye language can be a very powerful motivator. The bible says that just like the maid to her mistress and the servant to his master, we look to the Lord our God until, we get what we need.

But what about

THE EYES OF GOD

Does God have an eye langauge? My brothers and sister if you would just allow me to use my santified imagination for a moment I believe that the Lord does indeed speak to us with his eyes.

“For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers…” (1 Peter 3:12)

The Lord looks down to watch over your life. Psalm 33:13-15 says,

“The Lord looks from heaven; 

He sees all the sons of men. From the place of His habitation

He gazes on all the inhabitants of the earth;

He fashions their hearts alike;

He considers all their works.”

The Lord looks down to see who He can help. 2 Chronicles 16:9, “For the eyes of the Lord move about on all the earth to strengthen the heart that is completely toward Him.”

The Lord looks down to find and destroy those who oppose Him. Psalm 2:4-5,

You see I believe as we look to God with our eyes to communicate with God, the His eyes in turn our now upon us!!

Tell somebody the eyes of God are upon us!

You see when we look to God, our eye language is not without purpose. The bible says that our eyes look to the Lord our God, until (stop right there)

do we wait til we get tired?

do we wait til we no longer want to wait?

do we wait til we lose hope?

How long do we wait?

Tell somebody until!!!! That’s how long we wait. We wait until the Lord responds, whether the Lords response is negative or postive, we are supposed to wait for a response. That’s we’re many people go wrong, right there. They either feel like they can’t wait or they won’t wait to hear from the LORD on the matter.

Psalm 27:14

“Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.”

So not only do our eyes look to God, but God’s eyes are on us too!

Now what about the hand of God? We communicate what we want with our eyes but God makes provisions for us with his hands.

2. THE HAND OF GOD

The hand of God is not a body part. Rather, just as a father lovingly guides and disciplines a child with his hand, so are we guided by the hand of God. Every time the pilgrams made their journey to and from Jerusalem the would need the hand of God leading and guiding them on the journey. I don’t know about you but this Christian journey has dangers seen and unseen.

The hand of God can be clearly seen moving, guiding, protecting, in hindsight after its all over. At the time, of a trial or struggle we might not see it. But later we realize that God was there all the time. This is why James tells us to “consider it pure joy” (James 1:2) when we encounter various trials, because they valuable to our spiritual lives.

The hand of God can be experienced in his word. That’s where you’ll find God’s guidance, instruction, and discipline. Just like to maidservant and servant looked to their master’s with the eyes; it was the hand of the master which provided.

Finanlly we see that in this song the pilgrims appeal to;

THE HEART OF GOD

We touch the heart of God when we admit we have a need - the pilgrims said Lord have mercy on us.

We touch the heart of God when we care about, what he cares about.

The Lord cares out our physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing. It is an acts of Mercy to meet a person at their point of need. The people had a spiritual need. A need for the Lord to provide relief from the persecution of other nations. The taunting and teasing. Where is your God? As if their worship was in vain. As if their living was in vain. As if their praying was in vain.

Do you ever get teased about the amount of time and resources you put into church. Why are you always at the church? Why are you always giving your money to the church? Why are you down there working at the church again?

People can disrupt you spirit and cause you to sin. The people had reached their limit with the taunting. Reached their limit with folk that have contempt for the church. Reach their limit with people talking about the church. The reached their limit. You know we all have a limit.

Just the other day one of my grandsons had reached his limit with someone teasing him. ” I told him that stick and stones can break you bones by words will never hurt me” However as I was speaking the Spirit of the Lord spoke to me. You know that rhyme sounds good but it’s not true. Words can hurt. Sometime words can cut deeper than a knife. The wound from a knife will heal over time. But emotional wounds can lie dormant and never heal without proper attention.

The pilgrims touched the heart of God by asking for comfort from verbal persecution

They asked for Mercy, for pity, for compassion. The Lord is able to relieve all human suffering.

The bible says that Job was an upright man. Yet he experienced may trials and tribulations. But in the midst of his trials the Lord repearedly showed Job Mercy. Trials can make God look cruel and unmerciful. We tend to think if God was compassionate and merciful, He wouldn’t let people suffer. But James 5:11 says that even with Job—a man whose very name is associated with trials—God was still “very compassionate and merciful.”

Illustration

First, God’s Mercy Was Shown When He Blessed Job

God blessed Job with twice as much as he had before, and vindicated him before his family and friends (Job 42:10–11; see chapters 6 and 7).

Job 42:10-11The Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold.

Second, God’s Mercy Was Shown When He Put Restrictions on Satan

We might not be comfortable with those restrictions, but they were present nonetheless:

Job 1:12—“The Lord said to Satan, ‘Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.’”Job 2:6—“The Lord said to Satan, ‘Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.’”

No matter how painful a trial might be—physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually—God still restricted it from being worse. As a pastor, I have regularly told people not to say, “It could be worse,” but it is true—things could always be worse. If we could see how much worse, we would be thankful for God’s compassion and mercy.

Third, God’s Mercy Was Shown by not Killing Job

Third, although Job was a godly man, he was still a sinner. At times, Job was angry, accusing, and demanding. He thought God owed him an audience and explanation. He was self-righteous, especially when declaring his innocence. Even this criticized God, because it implied He was unjust for treating Job so poorly. God revealed His compassion and mercy when He spoke to Job, but did not kill him.

Most parents would not let their children speak to them the way Job spoke of God, but God did little more than ask Job difficult questions he could not answer. While nobody would want to be questioned by God the way Job was, this was mild considering the punishment Job deserved. The lesson for us is we deserve much worse than we receive. If God gave full vent to His wrath, we would be destroyed. Instead:

Lamentations 3:22—“Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.”Hosea 11:8b–9a—“My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute My burning anger” (ESV).Job 34:14–15—“If He should set His heart on it, if He should gather to Himself His Spirit and His breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.”

Fourth, God’s Mercy Was Shown Through the “End [God] Intended”

God’s compassion and mercy to Job is shown by the words “end intended by the Lord” (James 5:11). This phrase is so important you might underline, circle, or highlight it in your Bible. Do whatever you need to do to make sure you do not forget it.

Whatever trial we experience, God has a reason for it. In Job’s case, part of the end God intended was removing his self-righteousness and pride. God might use trials to accomplish the same end in our lives. Few things humble people more effectively than trials. Suffering is an equalizer that can bring even the highest people low.

Other times God uses trials to accomplish different ends in our lives. Regardless of what God is doing, we can be confident He does not allow suffering except for His purpose.

Speaking of God “What Is Right”

God does not use highlighting, italics, bold, or underlining for emphasis. But He does use repetition. God repeated Himself to Eliphaz:

Job 42:7-8“My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has…For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.”

God wants His character described correctly. He rebuked Job’s friends for misrepresenting Him, but He commended Job for speaking truthfully about Him. Understanding God’s character is always important, but it is especially important during trials. When we suffer, we are most tempted to draw incorrect conclusions about God: “God has forgotten about me,” “God has changed,” or “God does not love me.”

During trials we must turn to Scripture to be convinced of the truth and see what is “spoken of [God that] is right.” If God can be described this way with Job, then regardless of our trials, we must recognize God is still acting very compassionately and mercifully toward us.