"Look Up!"

"Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds." (Psalms 36:5) In light of all of our wickedness and the weakness of our goodness, God does not lack any mercy when it comes to those that are of a contrite heart; really, it's all about our choice to either accept His mercy or to reject it; He leaves that choice totally up to us. For those that accept it, it's all a matter of looking up in order to receive His mercy; no matter what we are going through, and no matter how impossible it might seem to overcome the odds, we can look up to Him and know that He loves us; when we do that, we can also take comfort in knowing that He is smiling down upon us. The word "mercy" that David is speaking of, has more than just mercy at it's core, although it is used for "mercy" 149 times out of the 248 times it is used in the Old Testament writings; the word is 'checed', and it is a word that also means goodness, lovingkindness, and faithfulness. As for the "heavens", this is the visible sky, as in what you see when you look up; point being, that our help is not here, but is there, way up beyond all of the destruction and wickedness, that's where our help comes from! It is sometimes hard to remember that we live in a fallen world, especially when it gets personal; but it's not the world that God designed, nor were we made to be filled with wickedness; these are the results of a choice as to obey or disobey. When it comes to who's sin was the worst, either Adam or Eve, it was Adam that flat out rebelled, Eve was deceived; Adam knew that he was sinning against God when he partook of the fruit, Eve was deceived into thinking she would gain something; but I believe Adam knew in his heart that he would be losing something, something very dear and special, which was his relationship with his Creator. That little fact makes those 149 times for mercy to mean something very special, particularly because when we sin, we like Adam, know in our hearts that we are losing something very special and dear, which is the relationship with a God that loves us; not that He ever stops loving us, because He does not; but our relationship towards Him is torn by sin, guilt and shame, whereas we are separated from Him, not Him from us. With that in mind, Where does our help come from? and aren't we glad that He is faithful to forgive us? But it's our choice to accept or reject His mercy; it's our choice as to whether we continue to hang our heads in shame, or if we will look up to the Redeemer of our souls and ask for forgiveness... "Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." (Isaiah 55:6 & 7)