I am moved as I consider the heart of God, moved in mercy toward people trapped in misery. In Psalm 103:14 we are encouraged by the fact that God knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust. See David trapped in a besieged city, Psalm 31:21-22, and the LORD had mercy on him.
Now I would like to pose the question again: What is it that makes this particular perfection of God’s character beautiful? One person can rescue thousands of accident victims in a year, but because he is a paramedic, that is just his job. It is not outstandingly beautiful. Yet, another ordinary person, like Wolraad Woltemade (a historic South African hero http://www.christianaction.org.za/articles/wolraadwoltemade.htm) can be so taken up with the misery of other people that he will even lose his own life to rescue them. In that we see beauty. So what is it that makes the rescue of the paramedic more ordinary, yet the rescue of the ordinary person more beautiful? What is beauty? What is it about the mercy of God that makes God beautiful? What is it about God that draws you to Himself when you see one or many of His attributes?
I’m hoping you will wrestle with this thought as I continue to place pieces of the puzzle together. May God grant you the eyes to see His beauty.
Consider for a moment the experience of God as He exercises mercy. Please read Hosea 11. God is so kind and tender to His people in verse 4. Yet in verses 5 and 7 they are determined to turn from Him. The LORD speaks about and turns over in His mind the misery that they are locking themselves into by their rebellion. He sees the ruin and disaster and sorrow and loss that will smash down on them as a result of their hard-headed folly. Yet they persist in their sin. They are fighting to be free from God’s safety zone, and are walking into the firing line of God’s blazing anger.
The next verse is so wonderful. This verse, as well as Psalm 16 contains the answer to the questions I have been asking. Do you see the answer? Do you see what is so beautiful about God’s mercy and all of His other attributes as you read this verse?
Here God bursts out with the overwhelming compassion in His heart. He declares that there is a principle in operation within His heart that holds Him back from pouring out on these rebelling sinners the harsh justice they are begging for by their actions and affections. God declares that a great transaction is taking place in His heart, His heart is changed within Him and all His compassion is aroused. Surely you can understand something of this, having been created with a reflection of God’s mercy in your constitution as a human being? As you are confronted with a man dying in misery, like the one I told you about yesterday, your sense of mercy leaps up within you to reach out and help. Imagine this sense of urgency multiplied infinitely in the heart of God. There is something about this that makes God beautiful.
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