SO GREAT IS HIS MERCY

The heart of David dwells delightedly upon the truth that God is “abundant in lovingkindness”, v. 8 J.N.D. Our pianet may be plagued with shortages, famines and droughts, but God’s mercy can never run dry. Every believer is a living testimony to the lavishness of sovereign grace, Eph. 1. 7, 8, and it is only fitting that we “bless the Lord” for His kindness to us.

His mercy is unmerited”, vv. 8-10, because there is nothing is us to deserve it. Like Mephibosheth we can only respond in amazed gratitude to the honours heaped upon us, 2 Sam. 9. 7, 8. And yet the psalm does not minimize our guilt. We are stained with sins, iniquities and transgressions, vv. 10, 12, each word unambiguously spelling out our total ruin before God. But the Lord is “merciful and gracious”, v. 8, and truly it is only by His grace that we have been saved, Eph. 2. 11, 12, because it exceeds all human measurement. If we could calculate the height of the heavens we could estimate the vastness of divine mercy (and thereby limit it), but all God’s attributes are gloriously boundless, Job 38. 4, 5. “So great salvation”, Heb. 2. 3, is just too big for the believer’s mind to grasp, but not too big for the heart to enjoy!

Because of His tenderness, wisdom, and intimate knowledge of each of His people, God’s mercy is fatherly in its compassion, vv. 13, 14. The N.T. reveals that this is more than mere poetic license, for the Lord Jesus came specifically to reveal God as Father, John 1. 18. How encouraging, then, to read of the God who has redeemed us as “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort”, 2 Cor. 1. 3. By virtue of His deity, His mercy is eternal, vv. 15-18, enduring as long as God Himself, “from everlasting to everlasting”, Psa. 90. 2. May we find strength in knowing that, though we are but dust, v. 14, and our days as grass, v. 15, our Father’s loving attitude towards His children will never, never change.

Change and decay in all around I see; O Thou that changest not, abide with me.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul”.

“God … is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us”, Eph. 2. 4.