Dear Faith Family,

For I knew that You are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. (Jonah 4:2b).

It happened twice in one week.  On two separate occasions I watched helplessly as two different drivers recklessly disregarded the law and piloted their cars dangerously right in front of my eyes!  Where’s a police officer when you need one?  Right?

Well, I’m here to tell you that in both cases, the officers were there!  What?  Are you kidding me?  Twice in one week?  I watched the first episode where the driver flew around another car on a two-lane road crossing a double yellow line.  Not more than a mile up the road I watched a police officer make a U-turn as his blue lights pierced the air.  Yeh buddy!  The second episode involved a driver who was in an unsafe hurry to get somewhere.  Unfortunately for him (or maybe fortunately) I wasn’t the only one who noticed his erratic behavior.  A police officer on a motorcycle was exiting the highway when he caught a glimpse of the bad driver.  And, yes, he abandoned the exit, re-entered the highway, and pursued the deserving driver.

Justice!

Isn’t that what Jonah wanted?  Sure.  Those Ninevites had earned it.  They had it coming to them.  Have you ever researched the practices of Nineveh in the time of Jonah?!  God caught wind of their evil, Jonah 1:1.  And yet, God called Jonah to go and warn the Ninevites. 

Well, Jonah wasn’t interested in facilitating mercy.  At least not for the Ninevites.  He was an advocate for justice.  It seems that, like Jonah, we are hard-wired for justice.  Mercy, on the other hand, can be in short supply.  Even after receiving the mercy of God, Jonah still lobbied for justice – for the Ninevites.  After all, they deserved justice.  I wonder…did Jonah believe that he deserved mercy?

In our divided culture is mercy in short supply?  Do “those people” who disagree with us deserve justice?  And, if they deserve justice, do we deserve mercy?  Maybe Jonah didn’t drink deeply enough of the sea of mercy.  How about us?

Will you drink more deeply today of His sea of mercy?  The experience of mercy begins at the end of our self-righteousness (where we begin to discover our own brokenness, where we begin to discover that we deserve justice rather than mercy, where we discover our desperate need for mercy).  Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!  Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! (Psalm 34:8). 

How about offering a cup of that life giving mercy to someone else?  Don’t give someone else what they deserve.  Give them something that they don’t deserve.

Swimming in mercy,
Pastor Karl