Day 3: Promise #3: My Mercy Is For You.

“And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.” Luke 1:50

A.W. Tozer said, “If God had not been merciful, there would have been no incarnation, no babe in the manger.” The incarnation of Christ was, in a real sense, the incarnation of God’s mercy. But what hope does this mercy offer sufferers?

Many learn the memory tool: Grace is getting what you don’t deserve; mercy is not getting what you do deserve. While this is a useful rule of thumb concerning sin, it doesn’t tell the whole story about mercy. Throughout Scripture, the word “mercy” is applied to two groups of people: sinners and sufferers. Dan Leeper defines mercy as “costly love in action that relieves the misery of sinners and sufferers.”

God’s mercy is exactly what we need, not only in the shame of sin but also in the pain of suffering. Consider how God’s mercy—embodied in the person of Christ—brings relief to both groups.

God’s mercy for our sin

When we think of “not getting what we deserve,” most immediately think of God sparing us from eternal judgment—a praiseworthy and unfathomable pardon. However, our subtle tendency is to affirm that God spares us from hell but suspect that he “gets back at us” in this life after we sin. We interpret difficulties as punishment. We see waiting as a cold shoulder. We confess God’s forgiveness but assume retribution. We picture Jesus shaking his head at us from the moment we roll out of bed, nauseated by our ongoing moral incompetence. This image of an exasperated, embittered Jesus could not be further from the testimony of Scripture and the message of Christmas.

Jesus isn’t plugging his nose when he forgives you. He isn’t secretly holding back frustration with you, wishing he could pay you back for your sin. Christ became man to take the payment of our sins so that we could enjoy unhindered fellowship with him. Whereas sinners delight in showing retribution, Christ delights in lavishing undeserved kindness on his people (Mic. 7:18).

God’s mercy for our suffering

To a people experiencing profound suffering, Jeremiah writes: “His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning” (Lam. 3:22-23). Here, the prophet highlights two hopeful aspects of God’s mercy: its endlessness and daily application.

The endlessness of God’s mercies refers in part to the fact that they never run out—as our sins and needs continually mount, his mercy only multiplies (Rom. 5:20). Yet it also refers to their infinite diversity. As Thomas Goodwin remarks, “There is no sin or misery for which God does not have a mercy. Just as there are a variety of miseries which we humans are subject to, so also God has in Himself a shop—a treasury—of all sorts of mercies. If your heart be hard, His mercies are tender. If your heart be dead, He has mercy to liven it. If you be sinful, He has mercy to sanctify you and to cleanse you. As large and as various are our wants, so large and various are God’s mercies.”

God’s mercies are also applied daily—they are “new every morning.” God doesn’t hand us a manila envelope full of mercy at our conversion and then charge us to make it last for a lifetime. He doesn’t even give us a week’s supply at a time. His mercy is always fresh—newly offered and applied to the believer day by day. We cannot live on yesterday’s mercies today or today’s mercies tomorrow. Christ calls us to rely on his mercy today and rest knowing he will give us exactly what we need tomorrow (Ex. 16; Lam. 3:23; Matt. 6:11; 6:34).

Rest in Christ’s mercy

No one fits just one of the categories above; all of us are suffering sinners and sinning sufferers. The good news is that God’s mercy is precisely for us—for all who humbly turn to Christ for help in their needs (Heb. 4:16).

Reflection question: How have you seen God’s mercy in your life in this past year? What does it look like to rely daily on Christ’s mercy in our sin and suffering?