Hopeful-Ish: Finding Jesus in Sadness and Painنموونە

God Shows Mercy

God’s people throughout recent and ancient history have always been forgetful.

Honestly, I used to envy the early people of God who got to see, hear, and experience God—whether it be witnessing a burning bush, receiving tablets God wrote with His own hand, or walking through a split sea. Fast-forward some years, and I envied the same sorts of things that the disciples got to experience: knowing the lines of Jesus’s face, His tone of voice, His encouragement, and laughter.

And still...Peter denied Him. Judas betrayed Him. Thomas doubted Him. And I suppose Jesus was used to it. Before He came to earth in human form, He was one with the Father. He was God’s Son, there with God at the beginning, and there when Israel kept losing all memory of heaven’s faithfulness to them. For all the signs and wonders witnessed, Moses still failed God, and the Israelites routinely worshipped other gods. Old Testament and New, the story is the same.

So how did God deal with them in their wanderings?

Sometimes, He allowed them to walk through the consequences of their sin. Sometimes, He sent miracles. Sometimes, He altered time and space and physics to communicate His power and His presence to them. And my goodness, did He show them mercy.

They’d trudge through their lives, grumbling and cursing and sinning and complaining, and He forgave and showed compassion again and again and again. His mercy healed their wounds and made them more merciful people. And that’s something I know God does for us, even when we hurt, even when we go silent, even when we doubt, even when we wander.

He shows mercy. He shows compassion. He alerts us to His presence. He proclaims His name to us all over again, and in doing so, reminds us of His nature. He stays true to what He says is core to who He is.