Because we are merciful, God will bless us. This daily devotional continues to look at how God blesses us when our mercy leads to godliness.
Nuggets
- God will recognize when we treat others mercifully because it brings glory to God.
- Our enemies are Satan and his followers.
To read devotions in the Redo for Godliness series, click the appropriate button below.
Devotions in the Being Merciful Leads to Godliness series
We started in the last devotion to look at blessings God gives us for being merciful. Blair indicated there were more, which I had though would fit in one more devotion. It didn’t, so we will finish it in the next.
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Let's Put It into Context
God’s mercy is the unexpected way God responds in love to our needs. Disciples’ mercy is a characteristic of compassion for the needs of others, especially those who are weak and unhappy.
Poverty not only includes lack of money, but it also encompasses sickness, weakness, fear, helplessness, desolation, and mental challenges.
The Reward of Honor
“He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn is exalted in honor” (Ps. 112: 9 ESV)
God will recognize when we treat others mercifully because it brings glory to Him.
We bring glory to God when we treat others mercifully. Berriman wrote, “Among the various methods of giving glory to God, it is none of the least considerable to celebrate the acts and the reward of His saints.”
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We know we are blessed when we give. “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’” (Ac. 20: 35 NIV).
Barrow argued that it is an express command from God to be merciful to the poor. This indicates their high value to God.
I can see that. We talked in the last devotion how this ties to “…love your neighbor as yourself …” (Mt. 12: 31 ESV), the second greatest commandment. When we add mercy (loving others) to righteousness (loving God), we get perfection or godliness.
Glossary
If it is an express command, we will be rewarded when we fulfill the commands. Since Jesus summed up what God expects in two commandments, we will be rewarded handsomely when we fulfill the commands.
Now, I know some of you may have jumped up and down when you read, “He has distributed freely; he has given to the poor …” (Ps. 112: 9 ESV). I can just hear you saying that God has not given freely because, if He had, there would be no poor.
Poverty is a result of sin, not a result of God’s creation. But that is focusing on what the world deems important.
What God deems important is that He has given us life. He gives us love — even those who do not love Him back. He provides the sun, moon, rain, and food for us.
Still jumping because you don’t think God does it equally? That is a result of sin again.
Don’t look at this through a worldview lens.
It amazes me how many of the modern versions translate mercy as generous. Case in point — Psalms 37: 21. The King James Version says, “… but the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth” (Ps. 37: 21 KJV).
Most of the newer versions translate it as some form of giving generously. A couple (NASB, CSB, and HCSB) translate it gracious.
Gracious is better. The New Oxford Dictionary (of which I couldn’t find a link) defined it as “showing divine grace.”
Generosity is more about giving abundantly. The closest the Merriam-Webster Dictionary comes is saying it is “characterized by a noble or kindly spirit.”
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Mercy isn’t just talking about generosity. We aren’t talking quantity here. We are talking quality — mercy like God’s mercy.
We can give to all of the Save the Kids, Save the Animals, Save the World organizations we want. If we see it as we are filling a need and making this world a better place, we have gotten our own reward. I don’t think God will credit that to our account.
If we give generously because we love others as ourselves, love our neighbors, and love our enemies as we are commanded and want to glorify God, we are glorifying God. We know He will bless us.
Don’t worry. God will take care of us when we do His Will.
We know Jesus said that when we are merciful to others, we are merciful to Him. “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’” (Mt. 25: 40 CSB).
Go back to “… but the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth” (Ps. 37: 21 KJV) a second. We know that God’s righteousness is eternal. The blessings we earn from being merciful will be eternal.
Steane reminded us that we won’t see the majority of the rewards in this lifetime. They will be reserved for when we get to Heaven.
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Deliverance from Enemies
“The LORD will keep him and preserve him; he will be blessed in the land. You will not give him over to the desire of his enemies” (Ps. 41: 2 CSB)
Our enemies are Satan and his followers.
I really struggled with which translation of Psalm 41: 2 I would use. I really liked the New Living Translation of rescue from our enemies.
But most of the others said some version of “I won’t give them over.” We touched on this a little in the last devotion. God does not promise to deliver us from trouble — He promises to deliver us out of trouble.
What God is going to deliver us from is the “… desire of [our] enemies “ (Ps. 41: 2 CSB). Our enemy desires our death. He desires us to deny God.
Pierson argued that disciples have enemies because of the curse God put on in the Garden of Eden at the original sin. “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen. 3: 15 ESV).
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We usually use that verse to point to the promise of the Messiah. But what if we expand that? We know God is good at using prophecy to refer to multiple time periods.
The “… her offspring …” reference does not necessarily have to be singular. We are Eve’s offspring. Satan is our enemy, too.
Jesus said that we would have trials. “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16: 33 NLT).
We know that Jesus defined the world as the whole collection of godless men. That is not going to mesh with us.
“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you” (Jn. 15: 18-19 NIV).
We have a natural enemy in Satan and his followers.
God will protect us from our enemies. “My enemies will retreat when I call to you for help. This I know: God is on my side!” (Ps. 56: 9 NLT).
Since these are spiritual enemies, God will reward us greatly when we withstand them.
Making the Connections
How does this tie to godliness? Godliness, equated with the Old Testament term fear of the Lord, is reverence in thought, feeling, and conduct that is promoted by walking in His Spirit and obeying God’s laws and commandments and produces a moral likeness of God.
Berriman told us. He wrote, “It is said of godliness, or the practice of religion in general, that it has the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. But more particularly is that part of godliness, namely bounty to the poor, encouraged to trust in the care and goodness of Providence, even for temporal prosperity (Proverbs 11:24).”
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We have to trust God to bless us and provide for us on His timetable and on His scale.
Barrow agreed with Berriman on the connection between mercy and godliness. He stated that performing acts of mercy indicate the true character of a truly righteous person.
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How Do We Apply This?
Barrow wrote, “Let us consider that nothing is more conformable to God’s nature, or renders us more like to Him, than beneficence and mercy; and that consequently nothing can be more grateful to Him: that nothing is more disagreeable and contrary to the essential disposition of God, than illiberality and unmercifulness; and therefore that nothing can be more distasteful to Him.”
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There is no better way to show we are like God than showing mercy to others. He will reward us for that.
Father God. We want to imitate You. We want to be generous and loving like You, not as the world is. Thank You for Your protection when our enemies surround us. We know You surround us and are more powerful than they. Lord, we thank You for the blessings. Amen.
What do you think?
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