The Mercies of GOD

I penned this in the morning hours earlier this week and then ultimately decided to hold on posting it. I wasn’t sure if it truly was the LORD to share this but today, during both church services, many aspects of what I wrote here were spoken on. It was enough confirmation for me to go ahead and share it. So, here it is. I pray that it blesses you.

This week has been pretty exceptional for me. I started a new job Wednesday night which requires some travel away from home for days at a time and working alone, at night. I have found that I now have an abundance of time to really get quiet, really read His Word, to spend time meditating on things and pray. I’m quickly discovering that this new season is one of total dependence on Him.

During the last season, I spent a great deal of time walking in the blessing of the LORD and yet was so angry at having to face the giants in the land. So many times the LORD said to me, “Be still!” He said, “Don’t move!” He said, “Don’t quit!” For many more reasons than I will share here, the day came that I did ultimately submit my resignation. I typed it out, as I had done a few times before (and ultimately deleted) – only this time, I heard the LORD very clearly say, “I’m going to allow it.” I clicked the button and the email was gone. Just like that, it was over. I felt incredibly justified. I even made a social media post not long ago, expressing my exuberance about no longer having to take call. I always felt like my personal life was forcibly interrupted by work demands. Now, “I had my life back.”

It took me several weeks to locate and start another job. Although things weren’t moving as fast as I thought they would, I saw the hand of the LORD orchestrating things in the precise way I needed them to be to meet our needs. He worked appointments out. He worked time frames out. He worked finances out. He even helped me publish my second book while unemployed. Then, just like that, a job opened up.

In the process of the transition, something unexpected happened. Although I felt so justified by the actions I had taken, GOD began to peel back some layers in me and I began to see what was there, underneath. There had been some root issues that had resulted in the anger and resentment I had been experiencing. Like a quick run through an internal car wash, GOD began scrubbing out some things quickly and the next day, I set off to start my new job. In my mind, I was thinking, “Okay, LORD, You’re showing me some things,” as I traveled down the highway. Then, like a wave hitting me, I began to realize, GOD had said, “I’m going to allow it” but it was going to come with a cost.

The most immediate realization hit when I realized how far the commute truly was. It’s one thing to see it on a map. It’s entirely different when you are actually in the car driving past 85 miles of trees, to the middle of nowhere-ville, knowing it’s going to be days that you’re going to be gone. When I arrived at my new appointment I began doing calculations and I realized, not only was my family time now reduced but so were my finances. While this job pays more, it also comes with a new designation. Contract employment means I work for myself. I saw the words, “self employment tax” beaming back up at me from the page I was reading. I was shocked. I had not anticipated that. That same night, I looked at my new schedule and I realized, I’ll be working Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. For those that know me, I am extremely church-focused. I’ve gone to Thursday night prayer meetings for years. I’ve been on church media for years operating cameras for the production team. As of late, I’ve also been involved on Sunday nights with a youth ministry. Now, it’s Thursdays… Fridays… and Saturdays, working night shifts. Suddenly, those words I had posted about “having my life back” and being so thankful that the “interruptions” were gone came back to me. I was literally on the highway of a huge life lesson.

Some might say this was the devil but I truly believe it was the LORD. I felt a very strong revelation hit me of what, “I’m going to allow it” really means. It meant, “You complained about the interruptions in the place where I planted you. Now, there are going to be some real interruptions.” GOD is not cruel, but the Bible is very clear in Hebrews 12:6, where it says, “He chastises those He loves.” What is that? It’s His rod of correction. Even in the midst of this, I realized, He is still going to be with me, He’s still going to be merciful and He is still going to guide me through this. Although I don’t know the time frame on anything right now, I realized, He’s put me smack dab in a place where I am going to have to be utterly dependent on Him for my needs. Admittedly, I am still in a little shock and awe and am still processing things. For me, this is most definitely the back side of the wilderness, yet even so, I feel GOD’s faithfulness.

So, that leads me to the next part of what I wanted to share. The last few days this week, as I have had the extra time, I’ve been reading through the book of Genesis, starting with Chapter 1. Rather than word searching and getting stuck on one paragraph or sentence, I’ve been reading it like a story, pen in hand, underlining and marking things in the margins that have stood out to me. What I’ve seen has been so powerful. What I came across yesterday is where I really wanted to focus, and that is The Mercies of GOD.

In Genesis, time after time, GOD gave commands or made promises and man sinned. Reading from one encounter to the next, I was just blown away at the level of commitment I saw from the LORD to His creation. When the story opens up, there is Adam. GOD tells him plainly, “You can eat from any tree in this garden but don’t eat of that one tree.” What does Adam do? The devil gets in the details and he and Eve end up disobeying GOD. They eat fruit from the forbidden tree and are evicted from the Garden of Eden by GOD. Because of their sin, all of GOD’s perfect creation suffered. Still, GOD was merciful. Although perfection had fallen way to total corruption, GOD kicked into Plan B. He created clothes for Adam and Eve and gave them sons.

Next, we read about Cain, who was Adam and Eve’s presumably first born son. He and his brother Abel offered a sacrifice to GOD. Cain’s offering was not the first fruits he should have provided. It seemed he gave an offering out of obligation rather than honor. Abel, however, gave GOD his firstlings of his flock and GOD honored it but rejected Cain’s offering. Cain became resentful and killed Abel. Not only did Cain kill his brother, but it says when GOD called out to Cain and asked him where Abel was, Cain responded with a very arrogant, “What, am I my brother’s keeper? I don’t know where he is.” He spoke to GOD irreverently, as though GOD were common. I was blown away by that. I was also blown away by the fact that after what Adam and Eve had done, and now Cain, GOD was still speaking to them. GOD already knew Cain had killed Abel. He confronted him and cursed him. Still, when Cain cried out, GOD was merciful. The Word says, GOD “marked” Cain so that others would not kill him in return for what he had done. That blew my mind.

Then a little further into Genesis, we get into Abraham’s story. He had a habit of telling little slight “untruths” to Kings he encountered regarding who Sarah was to him. When Kings inquired about Sarah because she was so beautiful, Abraham would tell them, “She’s my sister.” In truth, she was his half sister but she was also his wife. He was afraid he would be killed so that the Kings could have her if he told them the full truth. In one scenario, Abimelech wanted Sarah and thought she was Abraham’s sister. As you read the story, the Bible says GOD warned him in a dream to return her to Abraham or that he would be cursed. When Abimilech tells GOD, “I didn’t know!” and GOD tells him, “I know. I also have kept you from committing this sin.” Here, we see where GOD extended mercy and grace.

GOD promised Abraham that his seed would be as many as the stars of the heavens if he could count them. Abraham and Sarah both were very old. Abraham believed GOD was going to do what He promised, but at Sarah’s recommendation, they tried to help GOD achieve the promise by using Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian handmaiden to become pregnant by Abraham and carry the child. One would think this was a HUGE fail, but GOD was merciful. The Bible says that because of Abraham, GOD said He would also bless this child.

When Hagar was pregnant with Abraham’s offspring, she became arrogant and haughty and it angered Sarah. Hagar ran off into the wilderness. The Bible says the LORD met her there and told her to return to them. He also told her when her son was born to name him Ishmael. Even in that hot mess, GOD was merciful to Abraham and Sarah as well as to Hagar and Ishmael.

Later, when Isaac was born and weaned, then Bible says Ishmael was a teenager and made fun of Isaac. Because of that, Sarah asked Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away. She did not want Ishmael to inherit along with her son. Thus, Abraham did. He sent away Hagar and Ishmael with a loaf of bread and a jug of water back to the wilderness. Hagar ran out of water for she and Ishmael to drink. Thinking they would die, she cried out and GOD met her there. He provided water and reassured her of the words He had spoken concerning Ishmael. GOD was merciful.

When we read about Lot, Abraham’s nephew, it states that the LORD and two angels visited Abraham and the LORD told him that He was sending judgement to Sodom, where Lot lived. Abraham appealed to the LORD that if even just ten righteous were in the city, that He would spare the city. When the angels of the LORD went to the city and found it to be corrupt, and that only four among them were righteous, which was Lot, his wife and two daughters, the angels told Lot to leave. When he did not immediately go, the Bible says the angels grabbed him, his wife and his daughters by the arms and expelled them from the city. They also waited to rain down the firy judgment on Sodom and the cities in the plains until Lot and his family had reached their destination. That was the mercy of GOD. I was blown away reading that. I’ve read this story many times before, but realizing the extraordinary lengths the angels went to making sure Lot and his family were safe, even when Lot was resisting blew me away. It was clear that GOD had given them orders to keep them safe. That was just, “Wooow!”

In every one of these stories, they missed it, in the hugest of ways. Their mistakes had profound and and lasting impacts, and yet, what is it the Bible says? “It is the mercies of GOD that we are not consumed because His compassion does not fail. Great is His faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23

Even in the very first book of the Bible, Genesis, we see stories chocked full of the nature and character of GOD. As I read them, I felt such a peace, even in the midst of this new season, knowing that GOD is full of mercy when we miss it. If He was that merciful then, how much more now?! He knows we’re not perfect and yet He just keeps pouring that compassion out. He keeps being faithful. This week has certainly been an encouragement to me and I hope that something within this post encourages you, to keep trusting GOD in the midst of whatever may be happening in your life. He is so faithful.