Obtaining Mercy

 

II Timothy 2:24-26 "And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves: if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will."

I really want to help people, don't you?  I would love to be an instrument of God to "instruct" those who have been taken captive by Satan, so that they can take advantage of the great mercy of God by repenting of their sin and turning to Christ.

So how can I become that kind of person?

According to the above Scripture, I must be gentle, patient and meek.

 

Galatians 5:22-24 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." 

 

Gentless is not a personality trait.  It is not merely being a quiet, timid person.  It is a fruit of the Spirit – a work of God – accomplished in our lives.

Think of a mighty horse, once wild and untamed, that has been "gentled" through hours of training and "breaking"…all of those incredibly powerful muscles now tamed to move at the rider's slightest touch.

I think of gentleness as "restrained power."

A gentle person has a reason for being gentle…it is not mere softness; but rather a purpose for being meek, a constraint of the will to be patient and kind.

This type of spirit is not easily gained.  It takes a literal "breaking" of our will, as a trainer will break the mightiest stallion to do his bidding.

 

"So few are willing to undergo the suffering out of which thorough gentleness comes.  We must die before we are turned into gentleness, and crucifixion involves suffering; it is a real breaking and crushing of self, which wrings the heart and conquers the mind." ~G.D.W. (Streams in the Desert)

 

As we walk through our valley of suffering today, let us remember that our Trainer, our Rescuer, our Saviour is doing a work of "gentling" us.  He is breaking our will that we might be willing to do His.

When this fruit of gentleness has been accomplished in our hearts, we are then ready to be used by our Master to reach those who need to be rescued from the snares of the devil.

To be His servant, we must be gentle.

 

"When God conquers us and takes all the flint out of our nature, and we get deep visioins into the Spirit of Jesus, we then see as never before the great rarity of gentleness of spirit in this dark and unheavenly world." ~G.D.W. (Streams in the Desert)

 

Will you allow yourself to be gentled by the Master today?

 

 

Psalm 107:27-28 "They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end.
 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses."

 

"Do not get discouraged; it may be the last key in the bunch that opens the door." ~Stansifer

 

Just when you think you can't take it any more, cry out to the Lord one more time. 

He will hear your cry and bring you out of your troubles.

 

  Psalm 107: 29-20 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
 Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven."

 

 

 

The book of Job is a famous book, even in the secular world.  We have all heard quotes about the patience of Job; and we know that he was a man who went through severe trials and testings.

However, as I read Job, especially the beginning and ending chapters of the book, I am reminded again of the incredible knowledge and power of our God.

In fact, it is God's reminding Job of His awesome creation and wisdom that eventually caused Job to repent.

What I find comforting is this: 

The incredible Creator God involved Himself with the life, thoughts, motivations and heart of Job, a simple human.

God spends an entire chapter describing to Job the leviathan, a beast that sounds very much like a fire-breathing, sea-dwelling creature of mythic proportions.

What kind of Divine Mind would have thought up an animal like that???

And yet, He wanted Job to understand His character.

He longed for Job to understand His greatness and His concern for each of His creations – including Job himself.

This wonderful God was involved with every detail of Job's life, just as He was involved in the creation of and care for His incredible creatures. 

Nothing was missed by His all-knowing mind.  He had his eye on Job throughout his entire trial, and had planned out Job's restoration from the very beginning of the book.

So, I ask you – Can we not trust this God, as well?

He is the same God.  Just as He had His hand on Job, He has His hand on us.  He knows all that we are going through; and He has our outcome already planned. 

As we read the stories from Scripture of how He worked in the lives of men, as we learn of His creation and see how intricately He planned the creatures He made, we learn of His character.  We learn, as did Job, that He has our very best interest at heart at all times.

He is the great and awesome God – the Creator of the unicorn, the behemoth and the leviathan!!! (Job 39:9, 40:15, 41:1)

We can trust Him to do all that is right in our lives.

Let us join Job and say,

 

"…Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." (Job 1:21)

 

 

"The finest jewels are most carefully cut and polished; the hottest fires try the most precious metal." ~Streams in the Desert

"The man whose faith has been deeply tested and who has come off victorious, is the one to whom supreme tests must come."~Streams in the Desert

"If you are ever to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might, your strength will be born in some storm."~Streams in the Desert

"We have the assurance that the fires are lighted not to consume, but to refine." ~MacDuff, Streams in the Desert

 

I just wanted to encourage you today that God is doing a mighty work in your life, even in the midst of fire, testing, storms, pain and grief.

Do not doubt this for a moment.

Submit your will to His, and lean hard on Him.

 

James 1:3-4 "Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."

 

Ride the storm out, in faith, knowing that He is in the ship with you. 

Even if He seems to be sleeping through the storm, He is there, and will bring calm and peace to your life when the trial has done its work in your heart.

 

Did you know that the word "plan" is not in the Word of God? (The terms "Word of God", "Bible", "Scriptures" as used here refer to the King James Bible, 1611.)

Neither is "planned", "planning", "scheme", "design" or "contrive".

Isn't that really interesting?

 

Because, the truth be told, I spend a LOT of time "planning."

I like to plan.

I like to make lists of all the things I plan to do.

I like to "organize".

Oh, and by the way, that word is not in the Bible either!!!

 

Do you know what word we do find in Scripture just a handful of times?

"Preparation"

Ah, I feel better now…don't you?  I will just call my planning sessions "preparation" sessions instead!

 

Let's take a look at the first time this word is used in Scriptures and see what we can glean from its use:

 

I Chronicles 22:5 "And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be builded for the LORD must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries: I will therefore now make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death."

 

What a great verse!  What a testimony to David's love of the Lord and love for his child!

So, I was wondering how David prepared, because, after all, I want to do things in the right way.

In that same chapter we find a list of the things that David had prepared:

• 100,000 talents of gold
• 1,000,000 talents of silver
• Unmeasurable amounts of brass and iron, timber and stone
• Workmen in abundance – stonemasons, carpenters and "all manner of cunning men for every manner of work"

It seems that his "preparing" was more in the way of "doing", rather than "planning"; and I believe that is what the Lord would have us do as well.

Let's make our lists.  There is nothing wrong with that.

However, as soon as those lists are made, let's get busy about doing the things that we know God would have us do.

I love this quote:

 

"We cannot create the wind or set it in motion, but we can set our sails to catch it when it comes;

We cannot make the electricity, but we can stretch the wire along upon which it is to run and do its work;

We cannot, in a word, control the Spirit, but we can so place ourselves before the Lord, and so do the things He has bidden us to do, that we will come under the influence and power of His mighty breath."

~Streams in the Desert

 

Is there anyone who would deny that God worked greatly in David's life?  We read in the Scriptures time and time again of God's interaction with and intervention in David's life.

Through all of that, David was "preparing" the house of the Lord to be built.  He stayed busy with his goals and God worked in and through and because of David, as David submitted his life to the Lord.

I know it's a popular tv commercial these days, but I think its message is very appropriate:

"Less Planning.  More Doing."

Let's DO something today that we have been PLANning to do for a long while now. 

I can't wait to see how God works in the midst of our working!