Extending Mercy

The official definition of mercy is “compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it  is within one’s power to punish or harm.”

I think about the time as a young driver that I thought that I had fully stopped at the stop sign but the police officer had a differing opinion and let me know that what I had done was in fact a rolling stop. I pleaded for mercy knowing that my parents would most likely take away my car if I brought home a ticket making my insurance skyrocket. The officer had compassion on me in that moment even though it was in his power to punish me for my traffic violation. He extended mercy to me and I was beyond thankful. It also made me a better driver because I never again wanted to see those blue lights flashing behind me.

The Bible tells of how David extended mercy to Saul when given the opportunity. Saul had been hunting down David for years with the intention to kill him. But when David had the chance to take Saul’s life, he didn’t. Rather he cut off a piece of Saul’s royal robe as evidence of the mercy showed to Saul.

What’s amazing is that God does the same for us in our lives. He extends compassion and forgiveness of our many sins even though we deserve to be punished. How wonderful it is to receive mercy!

***Immediately after I recorded this on The Hill Radio, I turned onto the service road off of Crosley Street in West Monroe to take my kids to eat a Chick-fil-A. Before I was even a few yards down the road, I saw those blue lights behind me and my heart was beating out of my chest. The officer explained that I was going 37 in a 25 mph! I apologized profusely and told him I thought it was 35 mph. Before I knew it, I was talking so fast about how I just wrote about mercy and what it means and did he know the meaning of mercy and would he extend it to me this once and that I would be happy to pray for him. I honestly think that he did not know what to do with me, so he handed me back my license and registration and told me to tell my friends to slow down on that street. Duly noted and done, Officer! Thank you for extending me mercy!!

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