Faith

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God’s mercy, a river and a wall...

For the Lord said to Moses as accounted in Exodus 33: 19b (NIV) ‘...I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.’ These potent words portray the one and only true God as a no respecter of persons in the issuance of His mercy - Acts 10:34. If I may add, pedigree, qualifications and degrees do not place one on a pedestal to be visited by God or to partake of His unfailing mercy. However, His statutes and decrees can pave a way into the glaring realities of His mercy that can only be found in His presence where there is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).

For a good number of individuals who are opportune to understand the terrains, experiences and cultural practices depicting riversides in the developing world, you must know that the source of water to an entire village could be a single river and her streams or tributaries. From the king of the village to the chiefs of the clans therein; reaching to the lowly menservants and maidservants; extending to the condemned prisoners and outcasts, all are bound to drink from the river without prejudice. In other words, the river gladly grants all and sundry the privilege to use the waters thereof. More to the point, there is never going to be a time when the waters from the river will refuse to serve this natural purpose of sustenance. Suffice it to say that God’s mercy is like a river flowing ad infinitum. It reaches from everlasting to everlasting to those who thirst for it. And as it is with the very avatars of God, it knows no end.

While God is invariably capable of choosing to whom He will bestow His mercy and compassion as emphasised in Exodus 33: 17 – 19, the finished work of the cross channelled the workings of God on a new course to fulfil God’s ultimate intentions. As the writer of Hebrews gladly revealed in the New Testament, we can all confidently approach God’s throne so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need through an empathetic High Priest in person of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4). Jesus Christ lived; He died; and He rose from the dead; He is seated at the right of God the father; He is the empathetic High Priest and Mediator...need I say more? Just as it is with the dwellers of the riversides, there is an available ever flowing river for all. All that is needed of us is to draw nigh and put it to use. At the risk of repetition, God’s mercy is an ever flowing river that we can always draw nigh to partake of.

Over time, many like me have acquainted and identified themselves as ‘Confessional Believers’. We only seek after God’s mercies and compassions in the states that accompany our shortcomings. This is so because the light of God’s word sheds abroad daily in our hearts convicting us of many things: habits, attitudes, thoughts and acts that are outside the will of God. I want to stress very quickly that this is not the precedent of faith In God. As a matter of fact, it is God’s earnest desire that we leave this state by succumbing to the full leading of the Holy Spirit. It is written, ‘For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God - Rom 8:14 NKJV’.

Every son is a reflection of the father. That is, every son bears the image and likeness of his father by virtue of the father’s seed (genetic makeup) embodied in him. In our physical world, the truest examination to ascertain the paternity or maternity of a child is ‘DNA Testing’. In the medical parlance, ‘DNA Testing’ is regarded as an extensive biometric measure that identifies and compares the fragments of the genetic makeup of an individual. That is, fragments of the genetic makeup belonging to the father and or the mother. If we truly we are sons of God, then we must have God’s genes (seed) in us. Is not written, ‘Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God - 1 John 3:9 NKJV?'

Being a custodian of God’s seed makes us merciful just as God is merciful genetically. As our Lord Jesus taught on the mount, ‘Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy Matt 5:7 NKJV.’ This is to say that we can obtain God’s mercy by virtue of his seed in us. Needless to say, God’s seed is the person of the Holy Spirit – Romans 8. In other words, you must have the Holy Spirit, submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit and nurture this seed of God for you to be found of His mercy always.

God’s mercy is also a wall. The scripture says, ‘So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy - Rom 9:16 (NKJV).’ Willing and running in this context points to our daily walk and sojourn on the dusty roads of life. Without limits and set boundaries in our desires and efforts in life, we are bound to be victimised by the chaos that controls physical existence. As inferred by Albert Einstein in its expatiation of one the principles describing our physical world: classical thermodynamics, ‘all processes in life proceed in a direction which increases the amount of disorder, or chaos, in the universe’; every stage and phase in life is characterised with high tendencies and potentials of getting out of order and becoming chaotic.

Einstein’s assertion can be wittily seconded by the scripture which says, 'Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls - Prov 25:28 NKJV’. If this scripture is true just as all scriptures are (2Timothy 3:16) then its corollary, “a man broken down, without walls has no rule over his own spirit” must be seamlessly true. When a man has no rule over his life, the life of such a man tends to chaos, disorder and disarray. Nonetheless, the good news is that God’s mercy builds a wall of constraint round about us such that our actions, decisions and thoughts are governed to fulfilling his purpose for our lives. And God’s will cannot and will not lead us into a place where God’s grace cannot be found...Hallelujah!

If we remain within the walls built around us by God’s mercy, we cannot sin. For every time sin creeps into our lives, it is a strong indication that we have crossed the boundaries and broken the edge of the wall of God’s mercy. It is imperative to know that the serpent can only bite making sin to gain ground in our lives when the wall of God’s mercy has been broken through. Just as the bible teaches, ‘He who digs a pit will fall into it, And whoever breaks through a wall will be bitten by a serpent - Eccl 10:8 (NKJV)’. The only way to ensure that we do not break through God’s wall of mercy in our lives is to daily rededicate our lives to Him through prayers and meditation (Psalm 119: 9 - 11).

‘As the mountains surround Jerusalem, So the Lord surrounds His people From this time forth and forever - Ps 125:2 N KJV’. When the Psalmist mentioned this, he was clearly revealing an invisible attribute of God by the physical nature visible in Jerusalem (Romans 1:20). The mountains that surround Jerusalem were like walls around the city. In other words, God surrounding His people makes Him a “Wall”. A city without walls can be easily captured and destroyed. In the chronicles of Israel, it was never an easy task for the enemies to lay siege to Jerusalem. This was because Jerusalem had the added advantage of being enclosed by mountains which were like walls around the city. When God’s mercy builds a wall around us, we cannot be overwhelmed or consumed by the passing troubles in life. As the prophet lamented and acknowledged in his despair, ‘Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. - Lam 3:22 NKJV’.

In our journey of faith: as we walk the walk and talk the talk, let it be boldly impressed upon our hearts that God’s mercy flows like a river reaching to all and sundry. And for those who choose to the drink the waters thereof, they shall obtain the free and perfect gift which makes God’s mercy to surround them like a wall.

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