“Lord,” he said, “have mercy.”
This was the plea of a father made on behalf of his demon-possessed son. It is a request we have all cried out at one time or another, in different languages and circumstances. In big and small ways, we are constantly asking for mercy from the Lord and from each other.
Give us more time!
Help us find her!
Please, just let me rest!
When Jesus healed the demon-possessed boy, His disciples gathered around to understand why they’d been unable to work the miracle themselves.
“Because of your little faith,” he told them. “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed….Nothing will be impossible for you.”
—Matthew 17:20
The disciples were unable to give this man and his son the mercy they needed. Although there are certainly other times in Scripture when the disciples were able to perform miracles, this case is especially interesting because the man specifically asked for mercy, and the disciples were unable to give it. While the disciples couldn’t heal the boy or cast out the demon, Jesus could. In fact, earlier in this chapter, the mere radiance of His glory sent them falling to the ground in terror (v.6). Indeed, Jesus is set apart by His glory.
There is a great chasm of difference between God’s mercy and ours, between God’s faithfulness and our faithlessness, between God’s glory and our need. Jesus’s teaching forces me to look at the truth: Even when I actually want to be merciful and help others, in my own strength, my best efforts prove that my ability to be merciful is lacking.
Later, in chapter 18, Jesus shared the parable of a servant who owes his master a huge sum—a sum so large that he would need several lifetimes to pay it back. But then that servant turns around and finds somebody who owes him a day’s wages and starts choking him to give back his money (vv.23–28).
While we don’t literally put our hands around the throats of those who owe us something, we do choke others with our lack of mercy and forgiveness. The vastness of God’s never-ending mercy shows us our need for forgiveness is enormous. Grasping that need is the first step to understanding the gospel.
It’s difficult to remember mercy when someone hurts us. Some of us have been hurt so badly it feels like everything is ruined, that nothing can restore what’s been taken from us. The very thought of the offense can fill us with fear and loathing. But we do well to remember this: In order to forgive us, Christ had to die for us. He took the curse that we brought to Him and gave up everything so that He could give us mercy. This gospel is true! God’s great love and mercy for us are greater than all our sins.
Good Morning and HAPPY Wednesday sweet She’s! WOW! This IS for me! Had a small argument with my mom a couple of days ago. Forgive… yep I must forgive even when I feel gouged! I’m going to be transparent AGAIN! First, I LOVE my mom! I do! Sometimes I don’t think she realizes that she,too says hurtful things. Leaving for a trip this morning and funny thing is, early this morning BEFORE reading this devo, I was going to have a conversation with her to ask for forgiveness. Though her words were hurtful, and she may not realize it, but I need to get passed that and ask for forgiveness for my part. Also please pray for a safe trip. My kids and I are headed to the beach for an overnight stay. I also feel the getaway is necessary for all of us.
Kris- Excellent!
Carol M- with you sister!
Barb D- (welcome! new name to me!) yes! Life is so messy-hard!
Taylor- glad you are back with us daily, I sure do love your sweet young, tender heart and wisdom!
Sorry for my Messy comment, I am so not good at wrapping my thoughts up in a nice bow like you all!
GM She’s.
There is so much to unpack in these scriptures! But my heart settles on the forgiving part, and I relate to Laura’s comment. I too just had an argument with my other half last Thursday…and we have yet to settle it! I get bruised and can’t seem to put it behind and FORGET! I want counseling or a hashing out, but can’t convince him to face the issue of temper/anger issues and thus has been a repeating cycle. Boy it’s tiring.
I know God is working in this area though, because I keep looking to Him and praying, and letting the Spirit change me and reveal the fruits of the Spirit. Patients, kindness, gentleness..SELF-CONTROL..Heavenly Father, help me with forgiveness for hurts that I can’t seem to let go of, help our marriage to be a representative of your love for your people. A love that forgives, grows, repairs, and reflects your light. Be with Laura to forgive and remove the hurt and help her to repair and give love like our Father gives to us. Amen. And Laura, I think that is good that you are going to FAST for your daughter. We actually had a quick conversation with my son, sister, and nephew this past wkd…for some reason it came up and my nephew said to my son…even if you were gay, I would come to your wedding Michael, and there was a chuckle and my sister said me too Michael. And I said “I wouldn’t” that is against my beliefs..and there was surprise and like wow..that’s harsh. So it was out there, statements that reveal stances. I said I would of course still love you…but I don’t think I could embrace something that is wrong in God’s eye. Anyway, those conversations (not really a “conversation,” no one wanted to really get into “that” conversation!) always bring me back to when you told us a few years ago about the upcoming wedding of your daughter at that time. It’s a hard choice for a family, and I know at the time I said that I would love them through it and go..but I think I would stand by my convictions now. It is a tough thing that divides even Christians. But I think Christians are being forced to draw the lines more and more in today’s society. And there will be divisions in families, we are told that in scripture.
Adrienne, thanks for sharing, those are tough situations as well. That is a good example of you putting aside..for “she knows not what she does.” We had some division in our family in my first marriage and was estranged somewhat from my in-laws because of an incident. It is certainly a learning and growing in the fruits of the Spirit and forgiveness. It’s hard to know how to hold people/family accountable for their actions but offer love.
Sarah Wilson
I ‘m joining you in your prayer of embracing and understanding forgiveness while keeping boundaries in toxic relationships. With Jesus by our side, He will show us the way.
Wow. This spoke to me on so many levels. I still have chills from it as I write this. Thank you Rebecca for these words that I so desperately needed and had no idea I needed.
“While we don’t literally put our hands around the throats of those who owe us something, we do choke others with our lack of mercy and forgiveness. The vastness of God’s never-ending mercy shows us our need for forgiveness is enormous. Grasping that need is the first step to understanding the gospel.” This is a call out to me, I “forgive” but am awful at forgetting and reliving the event, which I realized from this is a huge lack of mercy. I am convicted.
“But we do well to remember this: In order to forgive us, Christ had to die for us. He took the curse that we brought to Him and gave up everything so that He could give us mercy.” There are no words. We can only accept this unbelievable gift our Father has given us. If he could do this for me, I can show the mercy of forgetting to others, or at least work really hard on it.
Just a fabulous essay. Thanks.
I see a common thread here. Matt 17:16-20. The disciples had been given power to heal and cast out demons (a few chapters ago), but here they couldn’t do it. I can just see Jesus rolling His eyes, like an exasperated mother with small children, “How long do I have to put up with you infantiles?” LOL! I can’t help but laugh a little. And when the disciples asked why they weren’t able to heal, Jesus told them it was because of their lack of faith – again. But did Jesus walk away?, did He “brush the dust off His feet” and go try to find another group?, did He tell His Father that He had missed it and gotten Him the wrong crew? Nope. He hung on fast, He kept teaching, He kept loving, He kept influencing, He kept accepting, He kept redeeming, He kept restoring. And He does the same with us. He keeps loving, He keeps teaching, He keeps surrounding us with His compassion and understanding. I am SO THANKFUL that He doesn’t give up on me, just like He never turned His back on the disciples. I Kings 8:11 shows our response to God’s goodness to us. Because of His great love and power and compassion and redemption and salvation, we cannot even continue to speak. We are brought to our knees and our mouths are silent because there is nothing we can say or do that can thank Him enough.
Wow! I could hang out and marinate on today’s devotion for a long time. Life is messy and painful. Jesus, may we be Your ambassadors of mercy while still fully representing Your Truth.
Lord, help me to be merciful as you are. Let me put self aside, and be holy as you are holy.
I have to run out the door & will be back later to read your comments and prayer requests. Have a lovely day!