By Wendy Wood
God’s mercy refers to God’s kindness to undeserving people who need help.
AW Tozer says, “Mercy is an attribute of God, an infinite and inexhaustible energy within the divine nature which disposes God to be actively compassionate. Both the Old and New Testaments proclaim the mercy of God, but the Oldhas more than four times as much to say about it as the New. We should banish from our minds forever the common but erroneous notion that justice and judgment characterize the God of Israel, while mercy and grace belong to the Lord of the Church… He has always dealt in mercy with mankind and will always deal in justice when His mercy is despised.”
Mercy is not a temporary mood of God. Mercy is an eternal attribute of God. Mercy never “began” it has always been the very nature of God just as wrath has always been and will continue infinitely.
Mercy means to be actively compassionate.
2 Corinthians 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort”
All mercy ultimately flows from God who is mercy. There are many ways that God shows his kindness and goodness to undeserving sinners. Stop for a moment and think about all that God has given to you that you do not deserve. Scripture says “The wages of sin is death” and yet here we are, waking up each morning, seeing the beauty of creation, enjoying relationships, having food, clothing, and shelter, and the even greater mercies of Christ’s atonement, relationship with God, God’s word readily available. All of these, and so much more, are from the Father of mercies.
Psalm 103:8 “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”
Mercy is God’s goodness confronting human guilt and suffering. Even in our sin, God is slow to anger and shows mercy in His patience and gentle correction.
There is a “general mercy” that all men have received. Psalm 145:8 says “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” And Acts 17:25 says God “gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” All people receive the general mercy of life and being sustained by God each day. Colossians 1:17 tells us that Christ holds all things together and provides food, shelter, relationships and everything else out of His mercy. Just being alive is due to God’s mercy. God gives all men, believer and unbeliever, mercy in life in giving time to repent, relationships to enjoy, beauty to gaze at, and varied foods to enjoy.
There is “sovereign mercy” that is only for those who are His children in Christ.
Salvation is a gift of mercy.
Titus 3:5 says, “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness but according to His own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.”
Ongoing forgiveness is a gift of mercy to God’s children. And God stands ready to help His children.
Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
For God’s children, mercy is available through Christ and God is always merciful toward them. God’s kindness is shown in ongoing forgiveness and help at all times. No one deserves salvation or forgiveness or help. It is only out of God’s essense of mercy that we receive those gifts.
In counseling, God’s mercy is a huge encouragement.
For a counselee struggling with guilt and shame over sins or their inability to measure up to God’s holiness, we can remind them that justification is a gift of mercy.
Ephesians 2:4-5 says, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trepasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved”.
Have your counselee stop and think about the fact that they were dead. Spiritually dead. There was nothing they could do to make themselves alive. There was nothing they could do to make themselves right with God. God’s mercy is to be celebrated and appreciated. God’s mercy should lead us to worship Him and love Him more and more.
For an unrepentant counselee we must warn them that God’s wrath will be revealed against their ungodliness and unrighteousness and point them to the kindness and mercy of God in offering His Son as the propitiation for their sins.
We are to extend mercy to our counselees. We are to listen carefully to their heart and lovingly engage with them. Romans 12:15 calls us to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. Matthew 5:7 tells us that the merciful are blessed because they will receive mercy.
Our counselees can grow in extending mercy - kindness toward undeserving people - as they work through the counseling process to become more like Christ.