TODAY’S DEVOTION (Tuesday 29TH September 2020)
“Now therefore, O our God, hearken unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.
O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolation, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousness, but for thy great mercies’ sake.
O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God, because thy city and thy people are called by thy name.” Daniel 9:17-19 ASV
WELCOME TO THE 271ST DAY OF OUR YEAR OF REJOICING
It’s another great day of God’s mercy, prepared before the foundation of the world for us all. We embrace it with grace, humility and great expectations. The principle of having righteous expectations is what keeps us hopeful for the best even in the midst of the toughest battle of this life.
Obviously, so many in the human race today are going through things mouths cannot state. There are things you go through in life that even when you are surrounded by people, none of them can help you out. I know some of you are familiar with this kind of occurrence. It has been my terrain for almost all my life. Only God has been the help of some of us.
Recently, I was almost getting depressed when I sat down to discover that no one had been able to help me in any of my critical private battles. In fact, there is no ear to even tell. Everyone behaves too selfish, and it takes true self-less people to help people like us.
Maybe because of self-centeredness or ignorance, many think people like us do not have private battles.
But I have learnt to encourage myself in the LORD. In the same way, I want to encourage you this morning; no matter what may be wrong with you, make up your mind to rejoice and be glad always.
God’s great mercies have always been bigger than our great troubles. That’s why I will be sharing on His Great Mercies today.
I have come to realize that if we seed joy into any day, it will bring back a harvest of peace into our lives. That is why men like David will always rise with a song to the ears of God early in the morning and a psalm, irrespective of what they might be going through.
He said in one of his Psalms,
“God, you are my God; early will I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for you in the sanctuary, to see your power and your glory.” Psalms 63:1-2 NKJV
One of the worst experiences of the Christian faith takes place in a realm or season called “a dry and thirsty land.” It is a place where there is no comfort coming from anywhere.
Yes, a season when you cannot find a true shoulder to lean on, even when all people are leaning on you. Most of my life have been spent in this kind of seasons. They really made me know what men like Paul felt when all fled and left him at a particular time of his life.
SAMSON AND ELIJAH WENT THROUGH SIMILAR ORDEALS IN THEIR GENERATIONS ALSO.
I have come to realize that the worst season of any kingdom warrior is a season of being a shoulder to lean on for everyone, but with no shoulder (Except GOD), to lean on. That is why in such seasons, the psalmist directs that we do what David did; look for GOD in His sanctuary to see His power and glory.
It is God’s great mercies that sees us through any season described as a dry and thirsty land.
You see, Sometimes as children of God, we do not really know what we need, we always know what we want.
WANTS are different from NEEDS, and does not satisfy. Wants has a way of making us very desperate. But sooner or later we wake up to find out that we never needed them.
One major thing we need this hour is GOD’s great mercies. I remember sharing this in one of our devotionals years back. We seriously need GOD’s great mercies in our lives today more than at any other time. Now I did not say “God’s Mercy” I said “God’s Great Mercies.”
To understand the difference between the two, it’s important that we look at this scripture in the book of Isaiah. The Bible says,
“For a mere moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will gather you. With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,” Says the Lord, your Redeemer.
“For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. Isaiah 54:7-9 NKJV
This word was initially spoken to the natural Israelites, but being spiritual Israelites the word is now spoken to us.
If you look at carefully you will realize that God did not deploy His mercies to restore Israel back to their land, following the level of wickedness that sent them away. Neither did He deploy His Mercies to salvage the souls in the generation of Noah. God deployed His GREAT MERCIES to do both things.
LET ME EXPLAIN WHAT I MEAN.
Let’s leave the nation of Israel aside because their story is well known by many. Let’s look at the generation of Noah whose striking story is still unknown to many. How did god deploy his great mercies on the generation of Noah?
First, He deployed it to help the evil generation enter the ark. But their own wicked and darkened hearts prevented them. Secondly, He deployed it again, 4000 years after the flood. And this is how it all happened.
God had said to Noah;
“The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.”
The Bible further made it clear that while Noah was building the ark, he was preaching to them by his actions. The purpose of that was to give them an opportunity to turn to the LORD!
However, and very sadly, he preached for 120 years but none repented. That was Great Mercies that the people of that generation needed. But they turned to pleasure! Then the flood came and wiped them all away. However, the great mercies were not recalled. They later manifested in two ways;
1. The “waters of Noah declaration” in Genesis 8:20-22 resounded when God was speaking about the restoration of Israel.
2. The descending of Jesus into the land of the dead to preach to the spirits of these rebellious men and women of Noah’s generation over 4000 years later. You may not have seen that in scriptures but Peter exposed it to us!
The Bible says there is no repentance in the grave (or land of the dead) but God’s Great Mercies are not cheap mercies – they made Him to go beyond the boundaries – beyond the grave to get the dead born again. Though that is the only time that it was done, it made a significant impact.
God went beyond the boundaries He has set, primarily to give the lost souls of the generation of Noah an opportunity to hear the gospel from His own mouth and repent.
THAT WAS NOT “GOD’S MERCY” IN MANIFESTATION BUT “GOD’S GREAT MERCIES” IN MANIFESTATION.
That was the only time that God deployed His Great Mercies beyond the grave and it is the last time that it will ever happen to any individual according to scriptures.
The revelation of God’s great mercies and how to recognize and respond to it, is therefore very vital to our survival as humans.
God does not deploy great mercies anyhow. He deploys it where a covenant exist.
They are deployed to save lives in extreme situations. For Israel, Ezekiel described their situation as grave. 2 Chronicles said they rebelled and resisted the word of the LORD by the mouth of His prophets until there was no remedy in Heaven or on earth for them. The result was the loss of the land of Israel for many years.
They were not in need of mercies from God. They were in need of great mercies. And when that was deployed, they were restored. What they lost for many years was restored in one year. God gathered them back to their land by His Great Mercies – everlasting kindness. The Bible says;
“For a mere moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will gather you. With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,” Says the Lord, your Redeemer. Isaiah 54:7-8
SOMEONE READING THIS IS NOT IN NEED OF MERCY BUT IN NEED OF GREAT MERCIES.
You need God to go beyond the rules He has set to save you by giving you another chance. You need God to take His eyes off the scriptures you may have broken and look at you with great Mercies so that you will not perish like the rest.
You need God to take you back into His arms as a servant not as a son. David was in same state when he prayed unto God to activate His Great Mercies.
HE SAID UNTO HIM,
“Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and your loving kindnesses, for they are from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; according to your mercy remember me, For Your goodness’ sake, O Lord.” Psalms 25:6-7 NKJV
“Great mercies” do not remember the sins of a man’s youth. It erases them!
It will take a broken and shattered life that deserves death and even eternal damnation and remold it back into a temple for God in the Spirit. It will take a broken heart or marriage and remold it into the most beautiful thing on earth. What Mercy may say no to, Great Mercies will say yes to!
At this point, it’s important that we uncover what great mercies are in God’s kingdom.
If you are a good Bible student, you will realize that eternal punishment in the lake of fire will not be the same – there will be one lake of fire but different levels of eternal punishment in the fire.
Now this is not a purgatory theology. I was a Roman Catholic. We were taught of purgatory but when I became a student of Christ, I discovered that there is no purgatory in scriptures. Jesus Himself said “God will give to everyone according to His level of wickedness.” In other words, every one whose name is not written in the book of life will be thrown into the lake of fire.
NOW, there will be one lake for all of them, but their torment will be determined by what they did on earth while alive. God is just; He will give to every men according to his works! The same will be done to those whose names are written in the book of life!
Our rewards will not be the same. We will be rewarded eternally according to our works also. Faithfulness to what God called each and every one of us to do, will determine the weight of each person’s rewards.
NOW, THESE TWO PROPHETIC EXPOSURES SHOULD TELL US THAT MERCIES ALSO HAS WEIGHT OR LEVELS IN THE SPIRIT.
Great mercies are bigger than just mercy. What God had on the Egyptians who followed Israel out of Egypt was mercy. The Bible called them mixed multitudes. When they spread carnal cravings in the wilderness to the Israelites God consumed them with fire.
They forgot that what they were riding on was mercy, not great mercies, hence failing to behave well. A man who is under God’s mercy might be thrown out swiftly as soon as he errs, but one under great mercies kept.
Saul had mercy but David had great mercies. It’s all about our hearts towards God and synchronicity with His will and ways!
If you want to explain it naturally you will say,
“YOUR STAFF OR DOMESTIC SERVANT IS UNDER YOUR MERCY, BUT YOUR CHILDREN ARE UNDER YOUR GREAT MERCIES”
I hope you understand me!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE A PRAYER GUIDE FOR THE DAY!
To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in you; Let me not be ashamed; Let not my enemies triumph over me. Indeed, let no one who waits on you be ashamed; let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause.
Show me your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.
Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and your loving kindnesses, for they are from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; according to your mercy remember me, for your goodness’ sake, O Lord.” Psalms 25:1-7 NKJV