misery and mercy

Lord, do not withhold true mercy where you know there is true misery.

We are at God’s mercy more than we would care to admit and more than we realize. We don’t know that we don’t know. This may be our biggest problem. But, never mind, the extent of God’s mercy is not contingent on our awareness of it. Thank God.

Still, it is good for us to meditate on it and at least try to understand its vast dimensions. Of course, we will never be able to comprehend his mercy entirely because his mercy is infinite and we are only finite. Bullfrogs could no sooner design a high speed train than we could understand God’s mercy.

Perhaps we don’t meditate very often on the extent of God’s mercy because we don’t want to think about the extent of our own misery. Our misery is also beyond our comprehension, though it is less extensive than God’s mercy. That is all we need to know: just that his mercy is greater than our misery.

Still, it is good for us to consider just how deep our misery reaches. There are two chief types of misery: the kind that comes from sinning, and the kind that comes from being sinned against. Either kind provide apt occasion for grief. If we don’t lament this state, then something is truly wrong and we have even more reason to be miserable.

But, never mind, the extent of his mercy is not contingent on our awareness of it. Thank God. Still, it is good for us to meditate on it. We’ve heard this before, I’m sure.

I pray that you may have power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge. -Ephesians 3:18-19