Luke 1:50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
Yes my Friends, that’s one of the many awesome truths of our faith! The Lord has indeed been merciful to those who have faithfully revered and worshipped Him; from the first day He made the original covenant with our forefather Abraham, even unto this day. No nation, society, or individual who has praised and glorified His Holy Name and kept His statutes have ever lacked His mercy. I guess we should first define what we mean by mercy. The Dictionary defines it as, ‘compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one’s power; the disposition to be compassionate or forbearing, an act of kindness, compassion or favour; something that gives evidence of divine favour.’ Then there are synonyms like, forgiveness, clemency, leniency and tenderness. So the basic idea of mercy seems to be a compassionate, kindly act that is not necessarily warranted, but which comes from the giver’s sense of LOVE, forgiveness, kind-heartedness or some such gentle, positive emotion. Where our God is concerned, we generally consider mercy to be His undeserved compassion, care and kindness. The important factor here my Friends, is the undeserved part of the equation. And there are so many examples in the Good Book where the Lord has been merciful to men when they certainly never warranted it. The particular response in Today’s Bit is a part of Mary’s outburst of praise, ‘The Magnificat.’ Having been told of her impending virgin pregnancy with Jesus, and that her cousin Elisabeth was also pregnant, (John the Baptist) she went to visit her. And wonder of wonders, when Mary greeted her, ‘the child leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the holy ghost.’ (Luke 1:41) Then she blessed Mary and confirmed that all the angel’s promises would come through cause she believed. (Luke 1:42-45) Then Mary proclaimed: ‘My soul doth magnify the Lord. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour…For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.’ (Luke 1:46-47,49-50) Now let’s go right back to where it all began: Abram is ninety-nine years old when the Lord appears unto him and says; ‘ I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. (Gen.17:1-2) And Abram’s response to that sudden, mind-boggling offer? ‘And Abram fell on his face.’ (Gen.17:3) From the very beginning Friends, Abram revered the Lord. Now note too that Abram didn’t seek the Lord, the Lord sought him because He knew the suitability, the rightness of Abram’s heart for His awesome plans. Then the Lord changed his named to Abraham, ‘father of many nations,’ and promised to make him fruitful. ‘And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.’ (Gen.17:7) And that’s how it all began my people, a simple contract; an offer by the Lord and acceptance by Abram. And though we, Abram’s seed have on numerous occasions broken that covenant, the Lord has never broken His word, and has often looked down on us with LOVING kindness and mercy when we were deserving of serious punishment. But such is His great LOVE for His most wonderful creation. When the Lord gave Moses the Ten Commandments, one of them, possibly the most important, was not to bow down to or worship any graven images, ‘for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that LOVE me, and keep my commandments.’ (Ex.20:5-7) It’s interesting to note my brethren, how the Lord always advertised His merciful nature. When Moses went back up Mt. Sinai to get the second set of stone tablets bearing the Ten Commandments, the Lord stood with him and proclaimed His Name: ‘And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.’ (Ex.34:6-7) And that’s how it was, and still is my people. To be truthful, the Lord improved the contract on our behalf, when He made Jesus pay for our sins with His sacrificial death, and the children no longer suffer for the father’s wrongs. But His half remained the same; He is still merciful to all those who fear and praise Him. And Bruh David immortalized it in Psalm 103, titled ‘Thanksgiving for God’s Mercy.’ ‘But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him; and his righteousness unto children’s children. To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them, the Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.’ (Ps.103:17-19) Oh my Friends, there’s nothing we can ever really do to deserve God’s mercy, for by our inherent sinful nature we negate that very possibility. But the Lord knows our imperfection and just like we LOVE our imperfect children, through His vast store of LOVE, the unconditional kind, He’s found it in His heart to be merciful to us sinners, who praise and worship Him. And that LOVE shines through ever so brightly with the sacrificial death of His Only Son Jesus, so that we could be made whole, cleansed and return to right standing with Him. The ball is now in our court my people. I implore us to obey His statutes, follow in His Son’s footsteps, so that His merciful nature will unfurl in our lives like an abundant harvest. Much LOVE!…to receive undeserved mercy…keep your half of the bargain…
Yes my Friends, that’s one of the many awesome truths of our faith! The Lord has indeed been merciful to those who have faithfully revered and worshipped Him; from the first day He made the original covenant with our forefather Abraham, even unto this day. No nation, society, or individual who has praised and glorified His Holy Name and kept His statutes have ever lacked His mercy. I guess we should first define what we mean by mercy. The Dictionary defines it as, ‘compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one’s power; the disposition to be compassionate or forbearing, an act of kindness, compassion or favour; something that gives evidence of divine favour.’ Then there are synonyms like, forgiveness, clemency, leniency and tenderness. So the basic idea of mercy seems to be a compassionate, kindly act that is not necessarily warranted, but which comes from the giver’s sense of LOVE, forgiveness, kind-heartedness or some such gentle, positive emotion. Where our God is concerned, we generally consider mercy to be His undeserved compassion, care and kindness. The important factor here my Friends, is the undeserved part of the equation. And there are so many examples in the Good Book where the Lord has been merciful to men when they certainly never warranted it. The particular response in Today’s Bit is a part of Mary’s outburst of praise, ‘The Magnificat.’ Having been told of her impending virgin pregnancy with Jesus, and that her cousin Elisabeth was also pregnant, (John the Baptist) she went to visit her. And wonder of wonders, when Mary greeted her, ‘the child leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the holy ghost.’ (Luke 1:41) Then she blessed Mary and confirmed that all the angel’s promises would come through cause she believed. (Luke 1:42-45) Then Mary proclaimed: ‘My soul doth magnify the Lord. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour…For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.’ (Luke 1:46-47,49-50) Now let’s go right back to where it all began: Abram is ninety-nine years old when the Lord appears unto him and says; ‘ I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. (Gen.17:1-2) And Abram’s response to that sudden, mind-boggling offer? ‘And Abram fell on his face.’ (Gen.17:3) From the very beginning Friends, Abram revered the Lord. Now note too that Abram didn’t seek the Lord, the Lord sought him because He knew the suitability, the rightness of Abram’s heart for His awesome plans. Then the Lord changed his named to Abraham, ‘father of many nations,’ and promised to make him fruitful. ‘And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.’ (Gen.17:7) And that’s how it all began my people, a simple contract; an offer by the Lord and acceptance by Abram. And though we, Abram’s seed have on numerous occasions broken that covenant, the Lord has never broken His word, and has often looked down on us with LOVING kindness and mercy when we were deserving of serious punishment. But such is His great LOVE for His most wonderful creation. When the Lord gave Moses the Ten Commandments, one of them, possibly the most important, was not to bow down to or worship any graven images, ‘for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that LOVE me, and keep my commandments.’ (Ex.20:5-7) It’s interesting to note my brethren, how the Lord always advertised His merciful nature. When Moses went back up Mt. Sinai to get the second set of stone tablets bearing the Ten Commandments, the Lord stood with him and proclaimed His Name: ‘And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.’ (Ex.34:6-7) And that’s how it was, and still is my people. To be truthful, the Lord improved the contract on our behalf, when He made Jesus pay for our sins with His sacrificial death, and the children no longer suffer for the father’s wrongs. But His half remained the same; He is still merciful to all those who fear and praise Him. And Bruh David immortalized it in Psalm 103, titled ‘Thanksgiving for God’s Mercy.’ ‘But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him; and his righteousness unto children’s children. To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them, the Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.’ (Ps.103:17-19) Oh my Friends, there’s nothing we can ever really do to deserve God’s mercy, for by our inherent sinful nature we negate that very possibility. But the Lord knows our imperfection and just like we LOVE our imperfect children, through His vast store of LOVE, the unconditional kind, He’s found it in His heart to be merciful to us sinners, who praise and worship Him. And that LOVE shines through ever so brightly with the sacrificial death of His Only Son Jesus, so that we could be made whole, cleansed and return to right standing with Him. The ball is now in our court my people. I implore us to obey His statutes, follow in His Son’s footsteps, so that His merciful nature will unfurl in our lives like an abundant harvest. Much LOVE!…to receive undeserved mercy…keep your half of the bargain…
SCRIP-BITS 