"God of... mercy"

    This week, I would like you to take the time to read Psalm 59 – it’s only 17 verses long – and if you can, please read Psalm 57 (11 verses) as well. Both these psalms are among the psalms David wrote while King Saul was murderously pursuing him. It is valuable to consider those circumstances as you read these psalms, so you can better hear the earnest pleading in David’s words but also be buoyed by his confidence in God’s mercy.

    It is interesting to note that the actual term “God of mercy” (or “God of my mercy” as it is sometimes translated) is only found two times in the Bible, both in Psalm 59, yet one could readily argue that God is accurately described and depicted as a God of mercy throughout the Bible; there are hundreds of verses that speak of His mercy and lovingkindness toward men, the greatest ones being those that tell of Him sending His Son to save us from our sins – that is surely the greatest possible proof of His mercy (John 3:14-21, 1 John 4:7-10)!

“My God of mercy shall come to meet me; God shall let me see my desire on my enemies. Do not slay them, lest my people forget; scatter them by Your power, and bring them down, O LORD our shield.” (Psalm 59:10-11 NKJV)

    Why was David so confident in God’s mercy? He knew that he was upholding God’s law and abiding by it to the very best of his abilities. He states, “The mighty gather against me, not for my transgressions nor for my sin, O LORD. They run and prepare themselves through no fault of mine” (Psalm 59:3b-4). At the beginning of his troubles with Saul, it says in 1 Samuel 18:14 that “David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the LORD was with him” and later, when given two opportunities to end Saul’s life, David stated on both occasions, “The LORD forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the LORD’s anointed” (1 Samuel 24:1-22; 26:1-25)

    David could be assured of God’s mercy because he had been merciful (consider Matthew 5:7) and he loved God and kept His commandments (Deuteronomy 7:9, Psalm 25:10). Time and time again David trusted in God’s mercy – consider David’s prayer for forgiveness in Psalm 51 and his choice of punishment in 2 Samuel 24:10-25 – and so we find him speaking of God’s mercy throughout his writings: “The LORD is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The LORD is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all his works” (Psalm 145:8-9).  

“To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises; for God is my defense, My God of mercy.” (Psalm 59:17 NKJV)

    In your troubles, can you do as David did?  Can you trust in God’s mercy enough to praise Him in the midst of the storm, fully confident that He will help? Do you consider God your defense?

    In Psalm 57:1-3 David begins his plea to the LORD: “Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by. I will cry out to God Most High, to God who performs all thongs for me. He shall send from heaven and save me; He reproached the one who would swallow me up. God shall send forth His mercy and His truth.” (NKJV)

    Are you assured of God’s mercy as you faithfully serve Him? He is “the Father of mercies and God of all comfort” (as we studied earlier, 2 Corinthians 1:3-7), you can trust in His mercy – it is renewed every morning; it will not run out (Lamentations 3:22-24)! Learn from David and let his trust in God lead you to trust Him more – let David’s words become your words:

“I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever; with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, “Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens”… “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; mercy and truth go before Your face. Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound!” (Psalm 89:1-2, 14-15 NKJV)

You can do it! So can I!!

 

"God of... my righteousness"

    This description of God is found only once in the Bible, it was penned by David, and found in Psalm 4:1.

“Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.” (NKJV)

    As we have been learning in this study when we see the term “God of…,” we understand that God is the author and originator of whatever follows; He is the source from which we can obtain it in its completest and purest form.

    David praises God from Whom he has learned righteousness, by Whom he has been guided in the most proper way. God established what is right and has not left His creation to guess at what that is; He rose early and gave His commands and instructions, even having them written for accurate remembrance, complete with the reward and consequence that would come respectively from His followers obedience and disobedience.

    Because God has loved His people enough to provide knowledge of how to live right in His sight David could be calm and feel safe even in distresses (Psalm 4:1, 8). His adherence to God’s righteousness kept him focused on proper conduct when he was feeling angry (Psalm 4:4-5) and developed his desire for others to know of it and to follow it with him (Psalm 4:2-3, 6-7). Knowing he was doing his very best to align himself with God’s way of living, he felt assured of God’s promises to hear and to help (Psalm 34:17-19; 145:17-19, Proverbs 15:29, James 5:16).

    The psalmist who wrote the Hebrew acrostic known to us as Psalm 119 dedicated a whole section to righteousness. Verses 137 through 144 are under the title letter, TSADDE.

Side note: the Hebrew term, ‘tzadik,’ which means ‘righteous person’ is based on the Hebrew letter, TSADDE (or TSADE).

TSADDE

Righteous are You, O LORD, and upright are Your judgments.

Your testimonies, which You have commanded, are righteous and very faithful.

My zeal has consumed me, because my enemies have forgotten your words.

Your word is very pure; therefore Your servant loves it.

I am small and despised, yet I do not forget Your precepts.

Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your law is truth.

Trouble and anguish have overtaken me, yet Your commandments are my delights.

The righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting; give me understanding, and I shall live.”

(New King James Version)  

    This is the conduct and attitude of a righteous person (1 John 3:7), someone who delights in the doing of God’s commands, who has learned the value of His instruction, and is continually discovering the wisdom found in His law.

    A righteous person also comes to appreciate the everlasting-ness of God’s righteousness. What God has called right and proper – and what He calls wrong and sinful - has not changed, will not change. We serve the God of righteousness just as David and the psalmist did, just as Jesus did, just as Mary, Martha, Paul, and Cornelius did!

    God gave His commands and instructions, having faithful men write them down, so that they may be preserved through the ages for us, and all future generations, as He wills.

    Is God the God of your righteousness? Do you look to Him for instruction in pure, absolute righteousness? Do you do your very best to align yourself with His instructions and commands? Are you assured of His comfort and help? Look to God for all that is right and proper, gain understanding of His way (Ephesians 5:15-17), and live with full assurance before Him!

You can do it! So can I!!

"God of... my life, my strength"

    Continuing in our study of descriptions of God found in the Bible, we are beginning to get to the terms that are found only once in the scriptures, so I may choose to combine them, as I have done this week, as this series goes on.

“God of my life”

“The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me – a prayer to the God of my life.” (Psalm 42:8 NKJV)

    Psalm 42 depicts the challenge of being patient during distresses – a portrait of longsuffering with joy. There are pains and hurts described but the overarching theme is confidence that God will help – that there will be reason to praise Him.

    Lovingkindness is a beautiful way to describe God’s mercy. God is in command of it; He will be merciful to whoever He chooses to be merciful (Romans 9:15-16, Exodus 33:19), and His mercies are new every morning – His lovingkindness will not run out – God will always be able to show mercy to whomever He desires (Lamentations 3:22-26).

    What is God’s song that will be with those in distress? I like to think of Zephaniah 3:17 that says, “The LORD you God in your midst, the Mighty One will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, and He will rejoice over you with singing.” (NKJV)  And as we studied last week, God is the “Father of mercies and God of all comfort,” providing us with such comfort in our tribulations that we are steadied and readied to comfort others in their troubles with God’s comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

    When the psalmist considers God’s enduring mercy and love, He cannot help but offer a prayer to the God of his life – the very God who “gives to all life, breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25) and by His divine power “given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:2-4). The God who does not fail (Joshua 21:45, 23:14) and the God who gives us strength to endure (Colossians 1:9-11)! God is in control and is over all – He will help, and there will never cease to be reason to praise Him and thank Him in your life and for your life!

“God of my strength”

“Vindicate me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man! For you are the God of my strength; why do You cast me off? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” (Psalm 43:1-2 NKJV)

    This psalm is a seeming continuation of Psalm 42 and its opening is so pleading, dark, and desperate, but if you continue in it (please do read it), the confidence the psalmist has in the ‘God of [his] strength’ shines with such beams of comforting light, that he buoys not only his own soul, but ours as we read them now! In both Psalm 42 and Psalm 43, the closing statements are a rebuke against his own soul for doubting God’s help: “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him. The help of my countenance and my God” (v5).  

    The psalmist was in need of enduring strength and he wisely went to the only true and proper source: God. He asked the LORD to send His light and His truth to lead him, to show him the way to His presence – so that he may praise Him (vv3-4)! We have access to the very same God today – a God who provides strength so we can stand and withstand against the wicked one and endure the troubles of this life (Ephesians 6:10-18, 2 Corinthians 4:16, Colossians 1:9-14) – look to His light (John 8:12, Ephesians 5:8-10) and learn His truth (John 14:6, Ephesians 5:15-17, 1 Peter 1:22-25, Romans 2:4-11).

    God gave you life, you were born into this world to seek Him and find Him (Acts 17:26-27). Coming to the light (John 3:19-21), hearing the truth (Romans 10:17, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Ephesians 1:13-14), and baptized into Christ, He granted you newness of life (Romans 6:1-4)! This same God is also the source for all the strength we need to endure and overcome whatever we may face in this world.  

    Is He the God of your life? Is He the God of your strength? Do you acknowledge Him as the giver of life and provider of strength, do you run to Him for all that pertains to life and find strength in His light and truth?

    God has given us SO much and He has SO much more give, if we but turn to Him and rely on Him to help!

“Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” (Psalm 34:8)

You can do it! So can I!!

"God of... comfort"

    God is the very author of comfort, it begins and exists in Him. Note that this is not a lazing or loafing comfort of do-nothing indulgence and indifference – it couldn’t be because God is none of those things – this is a comfort that encourages, consoles, and gives solace to the one standing and withstanding (Ephesians 6:10, 13) busy in doing the work (James 1:25, 1 Peter 5:6-10).

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NKJV)

    In this passage we see God described as “God of all comfort” – whatever your situation, He has all that you need. Not only does God have all the comfort you need while going through all your tribulations, He comforts us with such a comfort that we, ourselves, can get up and go on, and comfort those around us who are going through any troubles.

    Our God of comfort steadies us and readies us to encourage others in their walk!

“For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 15:4-6 NKJV)

    God prepared His word (having faithful men write it down) so it could be preserved and provided to future generations – why? So that we, in reading it could gain both patience and comfort while learning from it, and have hope knowing that the God they served then – the God of patience and comfort – is the same God we serve now.

    And again, beyond supplying us encouragement through the Scriptures, our God of comfort wants us to be like-minded – full of patience and comfort – toward our brethren, why? That we may with be as one, with one mind and one mouth, glorifying the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! What will eternity in heaven be but joining together as one with the saved from all ages to glorify our God of comfort?

    Our God of comfort steadies us and readies us for our eternal home!   

    Please take time to read and consider 1 Thessalonians 5:1-22 this week. Within this passage you will find comfort and encouragement for yourself and several ways to comfort and encourage your brethren!

    “Be imitators of God, as dear children” (Ephesians 5:1) and share the comfort He comforts you with! God is patient and comforting so remember to be patient and comforting toward your brethren who need help and solace just like you! Allow God’s comfort to steady you and ready you for the work that needs doing, so that you can help others stay the course and together you can look forward, with hope, to glorifying Him for eternity!!

You can do it! So can I!!