“Lord, Have Mercy!”

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” (Matthew 5:7)

How many times have we heard “Lord, have mercy!”? When our week has been too long, our days too full, and we have reached the end of our rope, what do we say? “Lord, have mercy!” And He does. When we are up to our eye balls in debt, and the prison bars are preparing to shut behind us, we say, “Lord, have mercy!” And guess what? He does. Then the moment comes when someone owes us $20, when someone else is at the end of their rope, when someone else needs mercy, and the question is – will we have mercy?

The throne of God above is surrounded by a rainbow; the foundation of righteousness encircled with mercy. Between Adam and the cherubim, God placed a hedge of mercy (Gen. 3:24). Between warning and wrath, God peppered punishment with mercy (Neh. 9:31). The very smell of a fresh spring rain, falling on the just and the unjust, smells of God’s mercy (Matt. 5:45). His very name is synonymous with mercy – “Lord, have mercy!” Should not the same be said for those who bear His name? “Reader, have mercy!”

Are these not great incentives for mercy? Character and career are as wedded together as taste and tongue. Who we are shapes how we live. Whereas the first half of the Beatitudes defines the form of the godly man, the second half displays the function of the godly man. It should not be shocking that the first function of the godly man is to be merciful. As God first approached us in mercy, so the first fruit of the godly man is mercy. Does this not make perfect sense? If God shows such mercy to those so alienated from Him, how much more so shall the godly man show mercy to his fellow man? How many more offenses should we overlook? How much more should we give the “benefit of a doubt?” How much more shall we be benefit from being merciful? How much more shall we be blessed by being like our merciful Father? Therefore, the godly man’s motto is: “Lord, had, has, and will have mercy, so I too will have mercy.”