"His Mercy Endures Forever"

PSALMS 136
"O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever." (Verse One)

 As if this Psalm could be placed in any better place, the point of the last Psalm carries over to God's mercy; mercy, because mercy is what we need, over and over again! Many of us have practiced reading this in a church, where the Pastor reads the beginning of each verse, and the congregation finishes, all 26 times: "for his mercy endureth for ever." In the process of repeating these, we are reminded how much we need his mercy, no matter what our position is in this life, we are all in the same need of God's mercy! This was one of those simple lessons that I learned when I first got saved, that I was blessed to have been found guilty and sentenced for a crime, because I had no excuse to say that I was a good person, not from behind bars. It was pretty obvious that my life was messed up and I needed some mercy! That said, the thing I discovered during the class settings with the officers and church groups, is that they were no better off than me; except for the bars, they were just as much a sinner as me. Come to find out, they were also in a harder place to ask for mercy, because many did not feel that they needed it or that their life warranted the plea: 'God have mercy upon me!' I found it easy to tell the difference between those that came to minister to some brothers, and those that came to try and save some convicts. I hoped that they realized that it is God that saves, because they might have needed some too! Anywho; that is the obvious title above this Psalm in my Bible, in case you were wondering. What does that mean for you? Does it mean that He has mercy for ever? Or does it mean that His mercy is unending? I am pretty sure that it is both! At least that is my experience over the last 38 years; 62 years, if you count the time when I was in my mother's womb! My mom was only 16 years old when I was born, so I was blessed to have been born. What, you don't think they had abortions in 1958? They most certainly did; mostly back-alley and with a coat-hanger. The word "good" is one that speaks about God's goodness, fairness, and kindness. I heard a message the other day about what it must have been for the Father to standby while His Son was being tortured, spat upon, ridiculed, and hung on the cross; what kind of restraint He must have had, and how it must have broken His heart to watch it happen. We can never doubt whether or not God loves us; not after we have considered what a sacrifice He made and how brutal it was for Him to witness; and all for us! He did what He needed to do, in order that we might obtain mercy...

"Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen." (Jude 1:21-25)