At Times – Life Is About The Mercy Rule

Psalm 30:10

Hear, Lord, and be merciful to me; Lord, be my help.

Mercy is something that is rare. Most of us – operating in our human nature – tend to want fairness – or even revenge – but mercy is rare. When I was umpiring baseball – we had a mercy rule in recreational league play. If a team was up by 10 runs after a certain inning of play – they had won the game – we didn’t have to play any longer. This mercy rule kept the team that was being beaten from being beaten by even more – and maybe destroy all of their confidence for future games.

What would a mercy rule look in real life? In golf it might be called a mulligan. We like do-overs in our world – a chance to improve on a mistake or a failure. Yet – often – we are reluctant to give mercy to others. It is hard to offer mercy – maybe because we feel little mercy has been shown us.

I’ve often written on this blog about how salvation is through grace. We all deserve hell – yet because of God’s great mercy – He gave us a free gift – salvation – through the shed blood of Jesus – if we place our trust and life in His hands. Ephesians 2:8 – For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—

Today’s passage cries out for mercy. Here it is in partial context. Psalm 30:1–10 – ¹ I will exalt you, Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. ² Lord my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me. ³ You, Lord, brought me up from the realm of the dead you spared me from going down to the pit. ⁴ Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name. ⁵ For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. ⁶ When I felt secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.” ⁷ Lord, when you favored me, you made my royal mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed. ⁸ To you, Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: ⁹ “What is gained if I am silenced, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? ¹⁰ Hear, Lord, and be merciful to me; Lord, be my help.”

The psalmist cried out to God to have mercy on him – to help him. How many times do we do the same? God is ever ready to show mercy – to forgive – to carry us through difficult times – to renew us in our walk – even when we have failed time and time again. God’s mercy is better than we deserve for sure. God’s mercy is greater than what we deserve.

The mercy rule that really counts is the mercy that God the Father offers us through God the Son – Jesus Christ. No other mercy rule carries so much power and blessing. We will exalt You, Lord, for You lifted us out of the debts and did not let our enemies gloat over us!

Just something for us to think about today as we go on our way.