Merciful - iV

Entering Into God’s Presence Knowing God Through His Nature & Character

God is Merciful (A Moral Attribute of God’s Nature)

• Meaning of the word ‘merciful’ and “mercy”:-

  • -  merciful – Greek, eleemon – kind, compassionate, sympathetic, merciful, and sensitive,

    combining tendencies with action.

  • -  have mercy – Hebrew Mxr, racham – to feel or show compassion, to love deeply,to show pity or mercy,

    to tenderly regard someone; to tenderly love (especially as parents love their infant child). Racham is the origin of the Hebrew word for “womb”, “rechem”. In Is 49:15, God asks, “Can a woman forget her nursing child,and not have compassion on (racham) the son of her womb (rechem)? (NIV)

  • -  mercy – Hebrew dox, chesed – kindness, mercy, loving kindness; unfailing love; tenderness; faithfulness. Chesed occurs 250 times in the Bible.

  • -  Common use:- compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm (Online Dictionary) For younger children it can mean forgiving, giving help or showing kindness to those who need help & kindness.

• Mercy is an attribute of love, and as such, a loving person will always seek to be merciful. Mercy desires that the due penalty of a crime be waived. Justice is equally an attribute of love, and a truly loving person will always be just. Injustice has no place in the life of a loving person.

• God is perfectly just and merciful in all that He does. This interplay of justice and mercy is one of the overarching themes of the Scriptures. It most circumstances the application of mercy runs exactly counter to the application of justice. Only on the cross of Christ are both justice and mercy perfectly blended. Only at the cross is sin harmoniously paid for, while the sinner is forgiven. To be just and at the same time to be able to justify, blends justice and mercy into one as at no other point in history! Truly at the cross, “Mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed”. Ps.85:10. (NIV)

• In Ex 34:7 God states, “I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth
  generations.” (Ex.20:5b-6; Deu 5:9b-10). Justice will prevail, have no doubt about it! But that’s not all! In order to get the full impact of these words you have to do a little math! Whereas justice reaches to 3 or 4 generations, mercy extends to 1000! In other words, God will be just, but He’s at least 250 to 333 more times desirous of being merciful! Mercy triumphs over judgement! James 2:13b (NIV)

• “God doesn’t give us what we deserve, but looks on us with great compassion, and understands that we are but dust.” (Wiley 113) (See link for DJH full study on mercy and justice.)

• God wants us to extend mercy to others as He does. Jesus says Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (Lu.6:36); Blessed are the merciful, (Matt.5:7); tells parable of unmerciful servant (Matt.18:23-35)

• Scriptures to look at

  - Ps 78:38 Yet he was merciful and forgave their sins and did not destroy them all. Many times he held back his anger and did not unleash his fury! Neh.9:17-20, Daniel 9:9

  - Micah 7:18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry for ever but delight to show mercy. (NIV)

  - Mark 5:19 After Jesus set a demon possessed man free He told him to, “.. go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.”

  - 1 Timothy 1:15b,16b “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners.

  • -  Psalm 116:1 “ I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.” .

  • -  James 2:13 There will be no mercy for those who have not shown mercy to others. But if you

    have been merciful, God will be merciful when he judges you.

- Titus 3:4; Eph. 2:3-5; Isaiah 63:9; Ps 86:15-16; 69:16; 130:2-4; Luke 1:50; 6:35-38; Jude 20-23

Memory/Meditation:
Lower Grades: The LORD is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. Psalm 103:8 (NLT)

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Middle Grades: O Lord, we and our kings, princes, and ancestors are covered with shame because we have sinned against you. But the Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him. Daniel 9:8-9 (NLT)

But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) Ephesians 2:4-5 (NLT)

Upper Grades: But our ancestors were proud and stubborn, and they paid no attention to your commands. They refused to obey and did not remember the miracles you had done for them. Instead, they became stubborn and appointed a leader to take them back to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God of forgiveness, gracious and merciful, slow to become angry, and rich in unfailing love. You did not abandon them... Nehemiah 9:16-17 (NLT)

Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. But “When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.” Titus 3:3-5a (NLT)