"It's Rhetorical"

"Remember, O LORD, Thy tender mercies and Thy lovingkindness; for they have been ever of old." (Psalms 25:6) In the question of how God's mercy works, it is not a question of will He remember, but will we; just as David finishes this statement by saying, "for they have been ever of old", which is to express that God's mercy is forever and always has been there, God has no blackout days on His love for us! If anything, we are in need of a constant reminder of His great love for us, and we need to convince ourselves that it is so. That might sound odd to some, but with all of attacks and all of the sickness around us, we are surrounded by doubt on a continuous basis. Day in and day out, people all around this world doubt that God is there; and if He is there, where is the mercy and love towards us? Oh my goodness; what a broken world we live in! The shortest verse in the Bible, may have the most powerful example of God's heart towards our hurt; we can find that verse in John 11:35, and it simply says, "Jesus wept". If you don't know the story, or have somehow forgotten why Jesus wept, it was because of the hurt in our hearts over sickness and death. He surely was not weeping for Lazarus, because He had known for over four days that He would be calling him from that tomb; but "He groaned in His spirit, and was troubled"; after seeing Mary and the Jews with her weeping, He was reminded of the brokenness of the world that He came to redeem. The other night at our Men's Meeting, we got into a discussion about suicide, and why a Christian might enter into the act of doing such a thing; and if so, were they really a Christian to begin with? I came up with a theory, that it must be because of one or two things: either they do not really believe in the power of God's redemption through His mercy and grace, or they do not think that they are worthy of it. I tend to lean towards the do not think that they are worthy of God's mercy and grace, because I personally know several people that are currently under that impression, and have even told me so. Looking at Judas, the one who betrayed Jesus, we see both of these options as a possible reason that he took his own life; as he either did not understand who Jesus really was, and believed that He should have been delivering this worldly kingdom; or, he did not believe that he himself was worthy of forgiveness. For those that truly believe in God's mercy and grace for them, there really is no justified reason to consider taking their own life; because God can take the worse situation we can possibly find ourselves in, and He can turn it into something wonderful for us to experience. If you don't think so, then look at the case of Lazarus; dead four days and stinky in the morning, yet alive and sitting at the super table eating and rejoicing with everyone in the afternoon; talk about "persuasive effect" of what God can do in any situation, now that's rhetorical..."The voice of my beloved! Behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping through the hills. My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, showing himself through the lattice. My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing birds is come, and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in our land; the fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away." (Song of Solomon 2:8-13)