September 23 – Amazing Mercy (Psalm 78:32-39)

“He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.”(Psalm 78:39)

IN WORD:
God’s mercy is amazing. Repeatedly, the Israelites sinned against Him. If we’re honest, so do we. The ravages of the fallen nature are not isolated setbacks. They are frequent failures springing from a chronic condition. Even after we are born of His Spirit, we feed other spirits and our own flesh with alarming ease. And still, after all the sin and rebellion, after all the complaints and rationalization for our complaints, God remembers that we are but flesh. He hesitates to stir up His wrath.
People have taken God’s grace for granted for centuries. He offers forgiveness, and we interpret His mercy as license to do as we please. After all, if only a confession and some semblance of repentance are required, we can get away with practically anything. We abuse the character of God, and He lets us! If not forever, at least for a very long time. His patience is enduring, His faithfulness great. He much prefers to demonstrate mercy over justice. And in Jesus, He has demonstrated both.
We could spend our lives analyzing the fallen condition of mankind, with our lying tongues, flattering mouths, traitorous hearts, and futile ways (vs. 32-37). But our nature points to a greater object. Though our history certainly highlights our frailty and fickleness, it is more than a study of depravity. It is a study of God’s mercy. The patience of God, the grace He has given, the compassion of the Holy toward the profane — all of His attributes are amazing. All creation must marvel that, literally and metaphorically, treasonous flesh has abusively, willfully slandered Him in the desert, and He still came to redeem.

IN DEED:
Do you ever think you’ve sinned past the limits of God’s grace? Don’t flatter yourself. If the wanderers in the wilderness did not provoke His destruction of this planet, neither have we exhausted His mercy. In all of our futility, in all of our struggles, we can hold on to the knowledge of the all-wise god: He remembers that we are but flesh.

“The grace of God is infinite and eternal. As it had no beginning, so it can have no end.” -A. W. Tozer-