Mercy: Not Getting What We Really Deserve

“I said, ‘O Lord, have mercy on me, heal me, for I have sinned against you.’ ” (Psalms 41:4)

I have been humbled by the number of individuals who have telephoned, written, or personally told me how much my devotions has meant to them. Obviously, my personal experiences are no different than most; so it has been easy for you to connect with the messages that God has asked me share.

The whole point of this column is that no problem is too difficult for the Christian who is willing to reach out in faith and trust Christ, regardless of the outcome. Indeed, God’s word can make all the difference!

God spoke to me in a powerful way this week. I had a friend approach me and remark that my column was reaching a lot of people. In fact, his Sunday School Class had just used the column on prayer during its opening assembly. While his sole aim was to encourage me, he brought much more than encouragement with him. He (and God) helped me to understand more about the meaning of mercy.

As we chatted, this friend confessed that he had been an alcoholic for almost 50 years. Even today, he still insists that he is in recovery, referring to himself as an “arrested alcoholic”. I can’t describe the surprise that come over me from this revelation. This is the kind and gentle elderly man that all of us see in church every Sunday. I would never have thought that he would remotely understand , much less have experienced, the consequences of alcoholism. Yet, in his eyes, I saw a strange combination of pain and joy as he shared his story with me.

One night, many years ago, he drew a bath for his child. She got into the tub and begged him to let her play for a little while. He agreed, poured himself another drink, lost track of the time, and dosed off. When he awoke, he remembered she was still in the bathtub, but he no longer heard her playing. He rushed to the bathroom. There she lay on her back in the tub, lifeless and immersed in water, except for a small island of dryness around her mouth. “O Lord,” he exclaimed, please let her be living. She was living, but God got his attention. “After that night, I promised myself that I would never drink again,” he said, “and I’ve kept that promise for 46 years.”

Well, I was deeply moved by the story that this man told me. When he walked away, I asked God: “What are you trying to tell me, Lord.” I mean this conversation took a meaning well beyond his message of encouragement. There was a reason for this story and I’ve spent a good many hours in prayer over it. It just seemed too important to commit it to memory and not learn from it.

I finally realized during one of my daily walks this week what I think God was telling me from that near tragic moment. But, I knew I couldn’t tell you about it without first obtaining permission of the man from whom this story came. I would never profit at the expense of someone else’s pain. So I later contacted him and he has allowed me to share his story in hope that a life may be changed because of it.

It certainly changed his life. It marked the beginning of his walk with Jesus. Oh he didn’t find Jesus that night, but when God spared the life of his daughter, he quit drinking, started going to church, and today has such joy and peace when you see him. He knows Jesus and he got an early lesson about the meaning of mercy. God knows just how far He needs to go to get our attention.

I find great comfort in the life and character of the Apostle Paul, especially when I reflect on God’s mercy. He was by any standard a arrogant and hateful man before he came to know Jesus. But what a change when he found his savior on the road to Damascus. If God can change Paul, there’s hope for anyone.

As I was reading from one of Paul’s letters to his friends, Timothy, I began to even better understand the meaning of my friend’s story. “Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief,” Paul told Timothy. (I Timothy 1:13) You see, my friend, like Paul, was also ignorant and an unbeliever. He has since been forgiven for the ignorance and poor judgment that he used. But even if he had been a Christian, Jesus took that sin at the cross for him and when he stands before God, he will be held blameless and spotless. Paul, who held the coats of those who stoned Stephen, warned us passionately in Romans of giving up on people like my friend: “Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. (Romans 14.4)

We all weep and wail about the troubles that we have to endure. But, we don’t get what we deserve. My friend knows it, and I know it, too. There isn’t a Christian who hasn’t walked away from the cross and couldn’t tell a story just as poignant as the one my friend told me. Aren’t you glad our God shows mercy to his children? Mercy is not getting what we really deserve.