Standing in His Mercy
It’s one of the sweetest scenes in the Scriptures; a radiant picture of grace in a room full of cold stares and shadows. You can almost smell the perfume emanating from the page…
In Luke 7 we are shown a portrait of mercy like no other. In a house of feasting religious leaders, a “sinful woman” is kneeling behind Jesus with unmasked gratitude. She came with the intention of anointing his feet with perfume, but before she could even begin she broke down and found herself weeping on hands and knees. When she first walked in she was a spectacle; now she was on the verge of being the laughingstock of the party, maybe the whole town.
The other elite guests mused to themselves, If the man she honored were truly a prophet and knew all things, he would surely scorn this harlot. He would cast her away in a second. She was a sinner; what does a holy man have to do with sin? Despite their thoughts, Jesus says nothing as awkward silence creeps into the mini-festival and the woman goes on to pour fragrant oil upon his feet.
She is determined to complete her task. With trembling hands, she lavishes love upon her Savior. Even under cruel scrutiny, she washes, anoints, even kisses the Man’s feet. She knew He would not reject her, even in such a seemingly inappropriate circumstance. Everyone else might scoff and push aside, but He would not. She had seen the tenderness in His eyes. It had given her confidence. And hope. She did not know much about Him, but she knew that the mercy He had shown her was worth everything she had.
There is nothing quite so powerful and permanently disarming as the undeserved love of God. It renders us helpless to His requests, sensitive to His leadings, and awakened to His character. We are found in scandalous sin, and we leave with pure and spotless garments and a bursting heart. The “sinful woman” of the scene above found the mercy of Jesus and it changed her forever. It broke her shame, filled her with heaven’s life, and put confidence inside of her.
Whether you feel it or not, your Father in heaven takes great joy in you. Grace is God’s love empowering us, but mercy is God’s love securing us. We can be confident in His affections for us, even in our weakness. As Jeremiah declared in the midst of national catastrophe and personal pain, “His compassions fail not” (Lamentations 3:22). Our good mood may fail; our family relationships may fail; our economy may fail – but His mercies never fail. Just because you blew it and are feeling distant from God doesn’t mean that He stopped being a merciful God. As the apostle John assured the believers in his day, even “if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God” (1 John 3:20-21). The very consistency of God’s love puts a holy boldness inside of us.
Ironically, if the statement of 1 John 3:20 – He “knows all things” – was quoted by itself, we would probably suck in our breath and quietly moan with horror. Surely, we would think with a wince, He knows about all of my sins and is disgusted! Not quite. He does see all things, but He sees all things through the lens of mercy. When we read the verse in its entirety we see that God knows everything about us and is still delighted in us. His mercies reign over our emotions and bouts of condemnation. And as the Scripture states, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence towards God.
The sureness of God’s mercy is our anchor in the prayer room. If you have blown it, repent and look to the God of mercy. You don’t have to sit in the time out chair; not even for a minute. You only have to turn away from your sin with sincerity, make necessary amends if need be, and then believe what the Bible says. Many times people will stumble and then deduce that they should skip the prayer meeting because they do not have their prayer warrior game face on. Or they sin on a Saturday night and are too ashamed to go to a service on Sunday morning. That is absolute nonsense in God’s eyes. You can’t earn His favor, so you can’t lose His favor when you stumble for a moment. Put your head up, look to the cross, and take your place in prayer once again.
Mike Bickle once said that after observing intercessors for almost thirty years, he noted that the only ones who stayed the course for the long haul were the men and women who understood God’s love for them in their weakness. The other zealous prophets and revivalists gradually threw in the towel of Radical Christianity after they came face to face with their own pride, anger, and lust. Oh, they didn’t turn prodigal or even backslide, per se – they merely gave up the vision for wholeheartedness. They gave up their war on compromise, backed off on prayer and fasting, and gradually became less vulnerable in their relationships with family and friends. Soon, they decided to pursue other “noble” efforts within the local church or business arena – at the cost of their heart. I feel the fear of the Lord when I hear these testimonies and even see it happen to the people around me. Years ago I caught the vision for wholehearted Christianity and I have been ruined by it. I want to be a man that shuns average western Christianity, prays with fire, gives himself generously to others, and is lovesick for Jesus. I want to run with people that do the same. But without a true revelation of God’s mercy I know I will only flare up and putter out in a short period of time.
Every now and then you hear something that sticks with you. When I first started following the Lord I heard a preacher say, “When you fail: Run to God, not from God.” It changed my life. Who knows how many prodigal journeys and dead end streets this truth has saved me from?
The Lord is so kind. Only He has hands that can heal your wounds and pick you up off the floor when you fall short of your calling. He delights in you more than you could possibly know. If you fall, run to God, not from God, and stand confident in the sureness of His mercy.
In Luke 7 we are shown a portrait of mercy like no other. In a house of feasting religious leaders, a “sinful woman” is kneeling behind Jesus with unmasked gratitude. She came with the intention of anointing his feet with perfume, but before she could even begin she broke down and found herself weeping on hands and knees. When she first walked in she was a spectacle; now she was on the verge of being the laughingstock of the party, maybe the whole town.
The other elite guests mused to themselves, If the man she honored were truly a prophet and knew all things, he would surely scorn this harlot. He would cast her away in a second. She was a sinner; what does a holy man have to do with sin? Despite their thoughts, Jesus says nothing as awkward silence creeps into the mini-festival and the woman goes on to pour fragrant oil upon his feet.
She is determined to complete her task. With trembling hands, she lavishes love upon her Savior. Even under cruel scrutiny, she washes, anoints, even kisses the Man’s feet. She knew He would not reject her, even in such a seemingly inappropriate circumstance. Everyone else might scoff and push aside, but He would not. She had seen the tenderness in His eyes. It had given her confidence. And hope. She did not know much about Him, but she knew that the mercy He had shown her was worth everything she had.
There is nothing quite so powerful and permanently disarming as the undeserved love of God. It renders us helpless to His requests, sensitive to His leadings, and awakened to His character. We are found in scandalous sin, and we leave with pure and spotless garments and a bursting heart. The “sinful woman” of the scene above found the mercy of Jesus and it changed her forever. It broke her shame, filled her with heaven’s life, and put confidence inside of her.
Whether you feel it or not, your Father in heaven takes great joy in you. Grace is God’s love empowering us, but mercy is God’s love securing us. We can be confident in His affections for us, even in our weakness. As Jeremiah declared in the midst of national catastrophe and personal pain, “His compassions fail not” (Lamentations 3:22). Our good mood may fail; our family relationships may fail; our economy may fail – but His mercies never fail. Just because you blew it and are feeling distant from God doesn’t mean that He stopped being a merciful God. As the apostle John assured the believers in his day, even “if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God” (1 John 3:20-21). The very consistency of God’s love puts a holy boldness inside of us.
Ironically, if the statement of 1 John 3:20 – He “knows all things” – was quoted by itself, we would probably suck in our breath and quietly moan with horror. Surely, we would think with a wince, He knows about all of my sins and is disgusted! Not quite. He does see all things, but He sees all things through the lens of mercy. When we read the verse in its entirety we see that God knows everything about us and is still delighted in us. His mercies reign over our emotions and bouts of condemnation. And as the Scripture states, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence towards God.
The sureness of God’s mercy is our anchor in the prayer room. If you have blown it, repent and look to the God of mercy. You don’t have to sit in the time out chair; not even for a minute. You only have to turn away from your sin with sincerity, make necessary amends if need be, and then believe what the Bible says. Many times people will stumble and then deduce that they should skip the prayer meeting because they do not have their prayer warrior game face on. Or they sin on a Saturday night and are too ashamed to go to a service on Sunday morning. That is absolute nonsense in God’s eyes. You can’t earn His favor, so you can’t lose His favor when you stumble for a moment. Put your head up, look to the cross, and take your place in prayer once again.
Mike Bickle once said that after observing intercessors for almost thirty years, he noted that the only ones who stayed the course for the long haul were the men and women who understood God’s love for them in their weakness. The other zealous prophets and revivalists gradually threw in the towel of Radical Christianity after they came face to face with their own pride, anger, and lust. Oh, they didn’t turn prodigal or even backslide, per se – they merely gave up the vision for wholeheartedness. They gave up their war on compromise, backed off on prayer and fasting, and gradually became less vulnerable in their relationships with family and friends. Soon, they decided to pursue other “noble” efforts within the local church or business arena – at the cost of their heart. I feel the fear of the Lord when I hear these testimonies and even see it happen to the people around me. Years ago I caught the vision for wholehearted Christianity and I have been ruined by it. I want to be a man that shuns average western Christianity, prays with fire, gives himself generously to others, and is lovesick for Jesus. I want to run with people that do the same. But without a true revelation of God’s mercy I know I will only flare up and putter out in a short period of time.
Every now and then you hear something that sticks with you. When I first started following the Lord I heard a preacher say, “When you fail: Run to God, not from God.” It changed my life. Who knows how many prodigal journeys and dead end streets this truth has saved me from?
The Lord is so kind. Only He has hands that can heal your wounds and pick you up off the floor when you fall short of your calling. He delights in you more than you could possibly know. If you fall, run to God, not from God, and stand confident in the sureness of His mercy.
Comments
These truths that you wrote about pierced my heart and shook me to the core as I read them!! I was nearly brought to tears as I identified in my own heart and mind many of the false mindsets that I believed to be true about how God views us when we fail. Thank you for taking the time to open up the scriptures and explain in a greater depth Gods undying love and mercy for His children!!! You are an amazing young man of God!!! Keep lovin' Jesus man! Peace out. . .