Skip to main content

Remember Mercy

         Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. (Habakkuk 3:2)

 

God and I are in very different time-streams. Actually, He’s not in a time-stream, and I am. That’s the problem. When I cry out to God to help or say something, as Habakkuk did in today’s verse, I’m looking for an answer in the next thirty seconds, and it would help if there was something dramatic or attention-grabbing about it, so I notice.

On the other hand, in His wisdom, God provided lots of answers two thousand years ago, and may provide an answer six months or two years down the line, when I’ve forgotten the question, but actually need the answer. And, if the truth is known, He’s probably given me the same answer two thousand years ago, and two thousand times since I was born, but I haven’t seen, heard, or understood.

One of the things I’m struggling with at the moment can be described a couple of ways. One way is to say that I’m struggling with spiritual adulting. When babies are unhappy and cry, someone does something to fix the situation. As we become adults, we’re supposed to learn to take responsibility for fixing our own problems. But when I have a problem that I take to God, I want Him to comfort me, burp me, change my diaper, and give me a bottle – or maybe just entertain me. And I want it right now, in real-time. Like Habakkuk, I want God to make His fame and His deeds known in my time, and in wrath remember mercy (because I don’t want anyone to be harmed, I just want the special effects.)

What I don’t want is to spend four hours looking through Bible verses I’ve already read God knows how many times – or at least my eyes have transmitted the images, or my ears have transmitted the sounds to my brain – whether or not my brain actually did anything with them. What I don’t want is to take responsibility (unless I want to,) or blame, but I do want credit. God is too wise, and too smart for that.

At the same time, how could anyone not want to see God being God? The key, I suspect, is our motivation. If we echo Habakkuk for our own entertainment, there’s no reason for God to oblige.  In fact, it might be an occasion for Him to remember mercy If we echo Habakkuk for God’s glory, that’s another matter. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen!

  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)            Do you like roller coasters? I don't. You spend forever climbing a hill. You get to the top and have half a second, then you race down to a low point. Sometimes the racing down involves tying your insides into knots. At the bottom, you either have to be dragged up another hill or you get off the ride. Peter's life was a roller coaster from the time he met Jesus. There would be miracles, and then Jesus would teach things that didn't always make sense, and then they'd go out and perform miracles, and return to be taught. Peter was praised for giving the right answer to "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus said that said answer came from God. Peter was at the top of the hill.            ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayer Lists

                 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (I Peter 2:2-3)   In connection with what I wrote yesterday about the possibility that I’m wrong, I’m feeling the need to go back to basics - craving spiritual milk because somehow, I missed something. It’s a little embarrassing, craving milk like a newborn, but the truth probably is that we are newborns many times in many ways in our lives. From God’s perspective, we may never be anything more than newborns, forever needing that milk. On the other hand, being a newborn can also be exciting because so much is new. My mind is playing pinball - ricocheting from one idea to the next and through six more before it happens to hit the third again. The main topic is prayer. I have at least seven organizing structures all somewhat influenced by the movie War Room , which I’v...
Post a Comment
Read more