22: A Mountain of Mercy

Galen

May 17

On a recent Sunday as we were singing, I looked around the auditorium and spotted one of our teens. She wasn't singing. It caught my attention because she is usually quite animated and energized by the worship and the music. She looked troubled. I watched her for a moment and soon found myself transported back a number of years to when I was her age. I remembered how there were times at church when I, too, was quiet. The reason: I was deeply troubled by some sin in my life.

I remember being deeply convicted by some sin in my life, a sin that haunted me, a sin that made me feel as if I couldn't qualify for God's forgiveness, that never again would I be able to run to Him and call Him "Father". And as the invitation was offered, I found myself (on many occasions) "going forward", desperately seeking His forgiveness, a sense of cleansing and release from the guilt that I felt. And inevitably, I found it.

As I think back now about those times of deep conviction, and as I looked at this young lady in our worship service (not knowing what was going on in her heart or life), I couldn't help but feel that she was struggling with guilt much as I had done long ago. In looking back at my life now, those were times of great value. I was right: I could never qualify for God's forgiveness by working at it harder, by being more righteous. I could only claim His promise of love for me, of the forgiveness He extended to me through the blood of His Son.

But I find myself today in a different state of life in terms of my walk with Christ. When I was young, I felt the weight of my sin very deeply. Do I still feel it today? Yes, but in a different way. At that time in my life, I was focused on MY sin, on MY guilt, on MY despair and failure, on MY determination to try harder to try to prove myself worthy, to gain His favor. Now, I've lived long enough to know that those early spiritual failures were just the beginning. I've lived long enough now that I've committed a mountain of sins. They are ugly and offensive to God. They are, but there is a mountain of mercy that I've experienced as a result of understanding Romans 9:14-16 –For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.

My standing before God is not based on anything I can do or say to gain his favor. My standing is based on Christ's sacrifice, and on God's mercy. My desire to serve Him can be as great as anyone's desire to serve Him. My effort can be huge – but that won't earn me His mercy. The mountain of His mercy looms over all my sin.

If there is a message I'd like to share with that young woman, it would be this: Yes, sin is awful and ugly. But there is a mountain of mercy, a rock of refuge to Whom we can run. He awaits us there!

PRAYER: Father, teach us to run to you for refuge, filled with confident hope! In Jesus' name, Amen.

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