Thankful Thursday ~ A New Day Dawning

So thankful today for God's mercy in giving us new governing officials. Oh, how I have prayed for His mercy to grant us a reprieve from the moral degradation our present leadership has spiraled us into. Yaweh has heard the prayers of the faithful in the land, and I believe He is giving America an opportunity to aright ourselves and to abolish the wrongs so many have perpetuated and forced upon us.

It's the dawning of a new day.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise.

Give thanks to Him; bless His name.

Psalm 100:4

Photo ~ White Chair,  Lori L. Stalter, Flickr CC by 2.0

When Relief Is Given

When our needs are permitted to grow to an extremity, 

and all visible hopes fail, then to have relief given 

wonderfully enhances the price of such a mercy.

~ John Flavel, The Mystery of Providence

Painting ~ Lost in Thoughts, 1889, Wilhelm Amberg 1822-1899, public domain via WikiCommons

Sunday Ponderings ~ God's Rich Mercy

Pondering this afternoon on a thought from our Sunday School class this morning, borne from Ephesians 2:4: God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ....

Mercy cannot be reduced to a simple definition. One we often hear is "not getting what we deserve." When we look at God's nature in mercy, though, we see a much broader, richer picture. We see God's inexhaustible mercy bound up in His great love. 

His love is perfect. He cannot love us any more than he does right now; neither can he love us any less--because his love is perfect. Perfect love casts out all fear.  

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. ~ I John 4:18

Perfect love casts out fear that God will love us less because of what we've done or failed to do. Because of his great love, he is rich in mercy toward us. His mercy is not merely his holding back some sort of punishment, but it is his pouring out of his perpetual mercy and oftentimes giving us what we do deserve because that is the most merciful thing to do. The consequences we must live with are very often God's messengers of mercy. 

What we often receive from God's hand is a relentless reminder of the dismal life and heartache that sin always brings. It is his love and mercy that such a continual reminder leads us to abandon that which separates us from himself. He is always wanting to rescue us--from the world, the flesh, and the devil. I think, perhaps, that the most resistant force is ourselves. I know I need most rescued from myself--my own thinking, my own ways of making things work, my own idols, my own seeking after that which is contrary to his ways.

It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed,
because his compassions fail not.
They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
The LORD is good unto them that wait for him,
to the soul that seeketh him.
Lamentations 3:22-24

Painting by Carlton Alfred Smith 1853-1946

Another Day of Mercy

Evening Light in Winter

A full day today of giving, and when it is done I am thankful to have had a part. My dad called this evening to let me know that my mother is in the hospital again with another blood clot in her leg. Too many miles between us to go to her. Talked with her on the phone. We talked about growing old and being forgetful and laughed at ourselves. She is in good spirits and looking forward to a few days of bed rest with someone else doing the cooking. Another day of mercy.

A thought from C.H. Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotional

"The dove came in to him in the evening."—Genesis 8:11 

"BLESSED be the Lord for another day of mercy, even though I am now weary with its toils. Unto the preserver of men lift I my song of gratitude. The dove found no rest out of the ark, and therefore returned to it; and my soul has learned yet more fully than ever, this day, that there is no satisfaction to be found in earthly things—God alone can give rest to my spirit. As to my business, my possessions, my family, my attainments, these are all well enough in their way, but they cannot fulfill the desires of my immortal nature. "Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee." It was at the still hour, when the gates of the day were closing, that with weary wing the dove came back to the master: O Lord, enable me this evening thus to return to Jesus. She could not endure to spend a night hovering over the restless waste, not can I bear to be even for another hour away from Jesus, the rest of my heart, the home of my spirit. She did not merely alight upon the roof of the ark, she "came in to him;" even so would my longing spirit look into the secret of the Lord, pierce to the interior of truth, enter into that which is within the veil, and reach to my Beloved in very deed. To Jesus must I come: short of the nearest and dearest intercourse with Him my panting spirit cannot stay. Blessed Lord Jesus, be with me, reveal Thyself, and abide with me all night, so that when I awake I may be still with thee. I note that the dove brought in her mouth an olive branch plucked off, the memorial of the past day, and a prophecy of the future. Have I no pleasing record to bring home? No pledge and earnest of lovingkindness yet to come? Yes, my Lord, I present Thee my grateful acknowledgments for tender mercies which have been new every morning and fresh every evening; and now, I pray Thee, put forth Thy hand and take Thy dove into Thy bosom.

Wait, O soul, and let patience have her perfect work. 

~ Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotional

Painting ~ Evening Light in Winter by George Gardner Symons