The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
Exodus 34:6–7, ESV
How merciful is God? This might seem like a silly question to some, but I believe it to be a valid one that we should ask frequently. We like to test God in our lives. Even though God has given us clear rules of what He approves of and what He detests, it seems that there are those who like to see where boundaries lie. Not to say that the Law can save anyone. We know that is not a possibility because our hearts are incapable of keeping the Law. This, however, does not excuse us to do anything we desire. God’s mercy was shown with Moses and the giving of the Law. As God passed before Moses, we see the blessings and mercy of God in this declaration. God’s blessing far outweighs his judgment of the guilty. In Christ, His mercy is made even greater. The reality is that we are all guilty. Yet, in Christ, we are found covered in His mercy. The price we must pay for our Lord’s mercy is simply to trust and believe, and He gives us belief also. The judgment of God falls heavily on those who mock and deny Him. For those whom He has brought into Him through Christ Jesus, He desires for us to pray and seek to bring more under His covering. His mercy extends far and wide. His reach is never-ending. Our time here on earth is brief, and our impact is limited to those whom He places in our lives. We save no one, but like those saved from a sinking ship, we seek to pluck out those reaching out from the abyss before they are lost forever in the darkness. The mercy of our Lord is great as He has sought to preserve us all.
Let us pray. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I ask you to protect me this day also from sin and every evil, that in all I do today, I may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all that is mine. Let your holy angel watch over me, that the wicked foe have no power over me. Amen.