HIS MERCY IS AMAZING
I was developing a
technique with paint, to make three Masonite boards look like real steel. I
decided I had to combine two different techniques to get the right look. It was
a rush job and I was scurrying. I wasn’t happy with the final pieces. Since I
was complaining the whole time in my head, God didn’t really have to do anything
nice for me, but His mercy was greater than my grumbling. The client loved the
pieces.
I had another experience yesterday
when I spent time with a young woman who felt she was being ostracized by her
family. She was a stranger to me. I didn’t know her past, didn’t know if I would
have deemed this girl “worthy” of my time or mercy. But the Lord directed me to
talk to her, listen to her, encourage her and express His love to her. I did
it.
The word “mercy” is used
262 times in the KJV and the first time is with Abraham’s nephew Lot. From what
we see of Lot in the Bible, he was not a very spiritual man. When Abraham took
him to Canaan with him, they stood up on a mountain and looked down at all the
land God had given Abraham. Abraham asked Lot which part of that land he would
like to have. Instead of deferring to his elder, he immediately chose the
greenest, most beautiful part of the land. He chose Sodom and Gomorrah. Not a
good choice for him.
Lot wasn’t spiritually
strong enough to prevail over the evil that had taken over. The practices in
those cities, and the hearts of the people were so confused and perverted that destruction
was eminent.
God sent two angels to
rescue Lot and his family. Lot happened to be at the gate of the city when the
angels came. The news spread fast, that there were two strangers that entered
their city gates. The angels took on a human form in this situation.
“The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was
sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed
himself with his face to the earth and said, “My Lords, please turn aside
to your servant's house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise
up early and go on your way.’
“They said, ‘No; we will spend the night in the
town square.’ But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to
him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread,
and they ate.
“But before they lay down, the men of the city, the
men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded
the house. And they called to Lot, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.’ Lot went out to the men at the
entrance, shut the door after him, and said, ‘I beg you, my brothers, do
not act so wickedly’” (Gen. 19:1-7).
The people in the city of
Sodom were so depraved that all of them came hungrily to Lot’s
house to get at these two strangers. When it says that they wanted “to know”
the two men, it means they wanted to sexually rape them, and it’s translated
that way in many versions of the Bible. Can you even imagine a whole city so
spiritually and mentally perverted that they all would want to come and see
such a thing?!
How could Lot stay in such
a place? And he called these men his “brothers.” Other translations say “friends.”
But God obviously had
mercy on Lot, and knowing that destruction was coming, He sent two of His
angels, looking like men, to get Lot and his family out of there.
“But he
[Lot] lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the
hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him
outside the city. And as they brought them out, one said, ‘Escape for
your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you
be swept away.’
“And Lot
said unto them, ‘Oh, not so, my Lord: Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy
sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in
saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me,
and I die:
“Behold,
this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape
there—is it not a little one? —and my life will be saved!’ He said to him,
‘Behold, I grant you this favor also, that I will not overthrow the city of
which you have spoken. Escape there quickly, for I can do nothing till you
arrive there” (Gen. 19: 16-22).
Not only did God have so
much mercy on Lot that he let him and his family escape (except for his wife
who of her own free will, looked back), but when Lot pleaded with God to be
able to go to a smaller city in the valley, God once again had mercy on him and
told him he wouldn’t let the destruction come on the city Lot wanted to stay
in.
God’s mercy is enormous. I
can’t say that I am a naturally merciful person, but Jesus tells us, “Be ye
therefore merciful, as your
Father also is merciful” (Luke
6:36). We can be whatever it takes to be a blessing to God’s people and I’m
just so glad God was merciful to me with my steel sample and then He used me to
show His loving mercy to another one of His children.
Love, Carolyn
This weekend through Tues.
my entire book WINGS: JOURNEY WITH JESUS is FREE on Amazon. or if you
want, I will send you a pdf file cjmolica@hotmail.com
.
WINGS: JOURNEY WITH JESUS - - THE ENTIRE BOOK –
60 short true stories of walking closer with the Lord in all kinds of
situations we face in our present world
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