Hello Travel Companion!

I hope you had a great Easter! Mine was squished between two late snow storms. But spring is now coming along and I hope spring is also coming to where you are.

I must confess, I was completely unprepared for this newsletter, the reason for its lateness.

I realized I understood nothing of God’s mercy. For what right had God to show mercy when, somehow, in my mind I had gotten turned around and believed that it was Satan who was judging us and proclaiming us guilty. While Satan does accuse us, he is not our judge who has the right to exact judgment onto us.

So what does this have to do with how God is merciful?

God is Merciful

Who is God? What makes Him merciful?

Because of my misunderstanding about God and Satan’s roles. When I read Jeremiah 30:12-17, I was shocked and struggled in disbelief. I could not understand how God said He struck us. How could a merciful and loving God strike us? And to such an extent that our wound would be incurable, hence leading to death.

The definition for the English word mercy is: “compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm" (emphasis added).

In the beginning, on the very day He created man, God laid down a rule and made the consequence of breaking that rule very clear:

So when Adam and Eve ate the fruit, God was just and righteous in His punishment (see Lamentations 1:18). Because God is the one who judges, He has all the more right to show mercy on whom He desires (Romans 9:15).

When and/or where do I see evidence of this characteristic in my life?

December 4,2022, I did not go home. I received an email from my dad expressing his and my mom’s grievance over my choices. As I misunderstood their sorrow for wrath, I confessed to my brother the next week during a text conversation that I was terrified to return home.

I have heard it said that the God of the Old Testament is an angry God, while the God of the New Testament is a loving God. And this comes to be when we understand His grievance over our sins simply as Him being angry with us.

But while the world was still in sin, in the midst of the people’s joyful cheers during the triumphal entry for which the rocks would have cried out if they had remained silent (Luke 19:40), Jesus wept for Jerusalem (Luke 19:41) and in another place expressed His desire to gather her children under his wings “as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings” (Matthew 23:37). So He weeps for us and desires each one of us to return to Him.

I died in a way while I was with my ex. God, along with my parents, mourned the loss of my life. Yet God had mercy on me when He reached down His hand with the promise of life should I take it. I took His hand and I have not been disappointed.

How does this trait affect how God sees me?

Walking with God since that day has not been easy. I’ve been crushed, disappointed, and left wondering why things still seemed to be going so horribly wrong. But God knows our weakness, our struggles, our shortcomings. Surprisingly, this doesn't cause God to throw up His hands in frustration to say, "She'll never learn!" nor consider me a lost cause. Neither does He accept me as, "That's just the way she is, nothing I can do about it, she can't change."

Instead, God sees us as a work in progress. A point of view I had to learn, that I would constantly be improving and addressing "new" sins. I didn't understand that sinning, repenting, and receiving forgiveness is an ongoing cycle.

Because of this perspective, what has God done?

During an event, I had three different opportunities to express a prayer request. Each time I responded with something positive because I had just gone through an amazing experience with God and thought, “I’m good now,” all my problems were solved. The first woman didn’t pray for me right there. The second prayed as I requested. But when the third woman began to pray, words failed her.

My heart sank as I believed I would never know how to ask for prayer. Because of her silence, I "knew" I had asked for the wrong thing. This didn't stop God from addressing the sin I refused to look at because it was too awful to discuss with anyone.

This third woman expressed she didn't understand the reason for the questions, but she asked me two questions. When I answered in the affirmative she prayed for me a beautiful though generalized prayer as I quietly added the details that will forever remain between God and me.

How does this new understanding affect my response and how I live my life?

Sometimes we are called to correct a brother or sister in Christ. About a year ago, I suffered a harsh rebuke that left me devastated. I had become everything that I had tried so hard to not become.

In reflection of that event and how God has dealt with me, I desire to learn how to be merciful as God is and gently address my brothers and sisters that they may be built up in the ways of God.

However, in all this, I have been learning that my role is only to be faithful as God leads me. For I am not Jesus and cannot save anyone else from their sins, neither am I the Holy Spirit that convinces them of what is right, nor am I the Father who brings about the results.

I know of all God's attributes so far, my understanding of His mercy is dreadfully lacking still. So I humbly request, if you are willing to share, how do you understand God's mercy?

Until next time when we shall look at how God is omnipotent.

With love in Christ,

Rachel

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In case you missed it, this is my latest blog post:

All Bible quotations are from the New International Version (NIV) unless otherwise noted.