"Merciful Father" -2

"The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works." (Psalms 145:9)

  It might not come close to the actual story, the power, the substance, or even the result; but I do think it is simple enough to see how "all" is compared to those that he might know, and are counted as His own. The second part of this verse gives us a little better understanding of how important His mercies are, not only towards us, but how much He elevates them, as if they are His greatest works. Remembering back to when I had the chance to share on Genesis 6 and 7, I was reminded how much it grieved God's heart to do what He had to do. In Genesis 6:6, we have a word that tells us how much His heart hurt, saying, "And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart." To try and put that in some sort of a picture, is not very easy to do; except to show the example that Jesus gave us, in the moment that He wept; which is recorded in John 11:35. To help in the conclusion of that story of the engineer, if it might shine some light upon what makes His mercies so much more important than anything else, we could look at the illustration given in Luke 17:11-19, which was when Jesus healed ten lepers. Ten lepers were healed, but only one came back to thank Jesus for cleansing him. And we know what his thankfulness was worth; not only was he physically cleansed, but he was spiritually cleansed also; something that means so much more than getting cleansed of being a leper! It was no doubt going to happen that the story would get out; the engineer would have been written about, and the people who were on that train would have realized what was done; they would come know how he sacrificed the life of his son, so that they might live. There is no real comparison to the power and the majesty of what our Heavenly Father did for us, but the actions of those who realize what was done, those are what make tragedy seem pleasant; if that were even possible! A little further down in Isaiah 53:10, it says, "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him," which speaks more towards His will, then it does towards His pleasure; because His will is for all to be saved, but not everyone is all that concerned about what God wants and cares about; but for those that do, He calls us His children! A chip off the old block, as some might say...

"But it was the LORD'S good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the LORD'S good plan will prosper in his hands. When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins. I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. Be bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels." (Isaiah 53:10-12) NLT