Good morning…
Fortunately, God does not come to us in just one life-altering moment, whispering from within, “You are fully known. You are fully loved. You don’t need to pretend to be anyone.” Instead God comes to us again and again, in refreshing new ways, day after day. The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning (Lamentations 3:22-23, NLT).
I think to myself, “What are God’s daily mercies, really?”
Mercies, a plural noun, are acts of love that respond to human need in an unexpected way. At their core, mercies involve lovingkindness shown by a Person who has the power to punish but intimately pardon instead. Unmerited mercies involve leniency and liberation. Clemency and compassion. Sympathy and soft-heartedness. Grace and generosity. Forgiveness and forbearance. Tolerance and tender-heartedness. Boon and blessing. Fresh mercies, concocted from our Creator’s limitless care, are born from God’s deep desire to relieve our suffering and to protect us from self-inflicting more pain. Multiple morning-by-morning mercies spark our great gratitude, if we train our soul to notice God’s non-stop nurture.
Researching further, I learn that in the Hebrew Bible there is a cluster of related words often translated as “mercy.”
* Ahavah refers to God’s enduring love, much like the committed love between husband and wife.
* Rachamim comes from the root word “rechem” or womb, literally understood as a “maternal bond” holding us inside God’s constant care.
* Chesed suggests an interdependent quality of “steadfast loyalty.” I want mercy and not sacrifice. I want you to recognize me as God instead of bringing me burnt offerings (Hosea 6:6).
* Emet means “truth” in Hebrew. In Psalm 85:10 we read,“mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed.”
* Hallel means “praise” and “the great Hallel” is the refrain of Psalm 136 that celebrates how God’s “mercy endures forever.”
Researching even deeper, I am touched by the footnote in biblegateway.com tucked in quietly behind verse 3:22. “The Syriac version of this verse adds in Hebrew: the Lord keeps us from destruction.” The free will of our human nature, if left untethered to God, is bound for destruction. In each of us God has planted a tenacious tendency to wander away, to defensively drift toward our self as life’s center, comparing and competing, criticizing and condemning, complaining and controlling. For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! (Romans 11:32-33, NIV).
Unable to trace God’s invisible mercies, we cannot fathom the multi-faceted ways God is empowering each of us daily. Training the touch of our toes on God’s wise, unsearchable paths, we walk by faith not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Morning by morning, we come to trust more deeply: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning (Lamentations 3:22-23, NLT).
…Sue…
