SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/7/2020
10:10 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: PT-3 “Mercy and Justice”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 5:7
Message of the
verse: “Happy
are the merciful, for they will have mercy shown to them!”
We can read that those who are
unmerciful will not receive mercy from God.
One of the different kinds of Psalms that is found in the book of Psalms
is called an “imprecatory psalm,” and if there are any types of the psalms that
people have issues with it is the imprecatory psalms. You have to remember that the Psalms were
written during the Old Testament times and in those times God was preparing to
send the Messiah into the earth in the Person of Jesus Christ, and so we can
see in some of these imprecatory psalms that the psalmist is writing about
making sure that this happens even if it means that others will be harmed by
God. One such Psalm is written by David
and again I will get some help from John MacArthur to help explain the
significance of this. “In one of his
imprecatory psalms David says of an unnamed wicked man, ‘Let the iniquity of
his fathers be remembered before the Lord, and do not let the sin of his mother
be blotted out. Let them be before the
Lord continually, that He may cut off their memory from the earth.’ David’s anger was not vengeful or
retaliatory. That man and his family did
not deserve mercy because they were not themselves merciful. ‘He did not remember to show lovingkindness,
but persecuted the afflicted and needy man, and the despondent in heart, to put
them to death’ (Ps. 109:14-16).”
In
Romans 1:29-31 we see that Paul characterizes godless mean in the following
ways as we look at these three verses: “29
being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness,
greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are
gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God,
insolent,
arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful.”
Notice that the last one is unmerciful as mercilessness is the capstone
marking those who reject God’s mercy.
Proverbs
11:17 tells us “The merciful man does himself good, But the cruel man does
himself harm.” MacArthur adds “The way
to happiness is through mercy; the way to misery is through cruelty. The truly merciful person is even kind to
animals, whereas the merciless person is cruel to everything.” “A righteous man cares for the needs of his
animal, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel” (NIV).
There
is an example of people giving mercy and people not giving mercy in Jesus’
Olivet discourse as seen in Matthew 25:41-46, and what His primary object in
the Olivet discourse is talking about what will go on in the tribulation period
but we can certainly learn from what He says and apply in today’s world. “41 “Then He will also say to those on His
left, ’Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been
prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing
to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me
in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not
visit Me.’ 44 "Then they themselves
also will answer, ’Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger,
or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45 "Then He will answer them, ’Truly I say
to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you
did not do it to Me.’ 46 "These
will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’”
Next
we will look at what James has to say in James 2:10-13a “10 For whoever keeps the whole law
and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. 11
For He who said, "DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY," also said, "DO NOT COMMIT
MURDER." Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have
become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be
judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment will be merciless to one who has
shown no mercy.”
We
conclude this section with a quote from John MacArthur’s last paragraph: “In the midst of our corrupt, ego-centered,
and selfish society that tells us to grab everything we can get, the voice of
God tells us to give everything we can give.
The true character of mercy is in giving—giving compassion, giving help,
giving time, giving forgiveness, giving money, giving ourselves. The children of the King are merciful. Those who are merciless face judgment; but ‘mercy
triumphs over judgment’ (James 2:13b).”
Lord
willing in our next SD we will look at “The Source of Mercy.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It is my desire to give mercy just to give
mercy because it is what the Lord wants me to do so. I suppose that there have been different
times in my life when I have given mercy and not even realized it, kind of like
what Jesus spoke of in the section from Matthew 25. I certainly desire for this to continue.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to seek contentment, humility, and
joy as I study the Word of God.
5/7/2020 10:44 AM
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