Mercy: Not Receiving What We Deserve

One of the most repeated themes of praise in the Bible are the words, “His mercy endures forever.” In Psalm 136 alone, this refrain is repeated 26 times. God’s mercy has no limits, it is boundless, and when we think about that we are moved to say with David in 1 Chronicles 16:34, Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. God is a God of mercy. In Deuteronomy 4:31, Moses spoke to the people of Israel before they entered the Promised Land and warned them of judgment if they do not obey God’s laws, but even in the midst of that, Moses contrasts the justice of God with His mercy. He says, The LORD your God is a merciful God, He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them. God is merciful; that is His nature.

What is Mercy?

The Hebrew word for mercy is “hesed” and it is one of the most important words in the Old Testament. It translated is several ways in the Bible, sometimes it is translated in our English Bibles as loving-kindness or as goodness or pity. In the New Testament the Greek word “eleos” is more specific to the English meaning of mercy and it is always translated this way. Ephesians 2:4, God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us. This abundant mercy was demonstrated to us when God sent His One and only Son to die for our sins. Titus 3:5 tells us, He saved us, not by works of righteousness, but according to His mercy. Mercy is compassion that bypasses punishment even though justice demands it. If you think about it from God’s perspective, mercy involves God not giving us what we deserve, in other words, no hell. We all deserve hell because of our sin, but God’s rich mercy responds to our desperate need and extends relief through sovereign grace and belief in Jesus Christ. Grace is very similar to mercy, but is nuanced different. Grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve, while mercy is God not giving us what we deserve. Grace deals with sin, mercy deals with our misery from the results of our sin. Grace says, “here is heaven” and mercy says “you don’t have to go to hell.”

Showing Mercy to Others

Because God is a merciful God, He expects His children to be merciful. From our perspective, mercy is a desire to be kind to the suffering, the condemned and the down-trodden. James 2:13 tells us, Mercy triumphs over judgment. Now obviously we cannot go to the extreme on this and say no one should get punished for doing wrong, but it is better for us as God’s children to extend mercy before judgment. Jesus said, blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy (Matthew 5:7). We must live as merciful people showing all around us this virtue on a regular basis and thus we shall please God (Micah 6:8).