The following November Missions Devotional was written by Jim Fugleberg
Psalm 118:1 O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever.
The words of this verse are an oft-repeated refrain in the psalms. If Jesus in the New Testament says “verily, verily,” doubling the word to emphasize the truth and importance of what He is about to say, how much more do the multiple repetitions of this refrain emphasize the encouragement to us to be constantly thankful to God, and more than that, emphasize the reason why that thanks is appropriate: That reason is His eternally enduring mercy.
The mercies of God are multitudinous, and in a sense, they encompass all that God does toward us. After all, why should he have anything to do with us? That He should have any regard for us at all on this tiny, baby-blue ball floating in the outlying regions of one of the myriads of galaxies in a vast universe, is nothing short of incredible. This is incredible whether God acts toward us with favor or disfavor: why doesn’t He just abandon us? Why doesn’t He just ignore us? But God does not.
And happy for us that He does not. We may wish He would sometimes: when the Holy Spirit bears down on us in the conviction of sin, when the law cuts deep, when we labor and are heavy laden under condemning guilt, when He makes us painfully aware of the need for a correction. Happy for us that He does not leave us in love with our sin, for if He did, we would have no way out. Happy for us that He does not provide the option that He should abandon us to oblivion, because, if He did, we in our sinful foolishness would probably choose oblivion over repentance!
But He bears with us in our sins and “it is of His mercy that we are not consumed” (Lam 3:22). He bears with us while He works to make us childlike and repentant of heart, while He destroys our confidence in our own so-regarded virtues, while He strips us of our pride, while He sickens us of our drawing others’ attention to “I, Me, and My,” as if there was something good, honorable, or special about it, while He brings to a final end any thought of, “I can overcome my sin if I just try harder.”
God delights in mercy, but He must hold back from extending it as long as we would misconstrue His favor as something deserved. Mercy, by definition, is not deserved. Therefore we must know our abject unworthiness before we can receive it for what it is.
Before we get to that place, believing is difficult, because it involves rest and trust. We don’t rest and trust in Jesus then, because we still think there’s something in us we can rely on.
And then when we do come to see our abject unworthiness and are offered the grace of God for the gift that it is, then the difficulty associated with believing is that our sense of justice cries out that we deserve punishment and not mercy. “How can such a sinner as I be an heir of heaven and eternal life?”
But believing is nothing more than that: believing. Believing because God says so. And when we believe it anyway for the simple fact that the Word of God tells us it’s true, and the fact that Jesus satisfied the justice part, then we realize and know in our hearts, “it’s a gift.” There’s no other way to describe it.
Then “not by works” is clearer than it has ever been. Then “we know and believe the love God has for us,” and it is wonderful. Then praise to God has foundation in the fact that He alone is to be credited with our being counted in the number of the redeemed. Then sin, O cruel culprit that it is! is seen as that which had robbed us of this blessed standing with God. And “Jesus the very thought of thee with sweetness fills my breast,” because He it is that has taken the burden I carried, has borne the guilt, has paid the wages in my place at so great a cost.
This mercy endures forever. That includes a minute from now when the guilt returns, tomorrow when the devil accuses, whenever I have failed to be watchful and have fallen in sin. Then again, undeserving, I need mercy, by definition extended only to the unworthy, extended as a gift, and received as such, because that is the only thing it can be.
They are new every morning, no days skipped. I’m as unworthy today as I was yesterday, and while this life remains will never be less-so. I don’t deserve God’s favor now, and in this life will not improve on that. Necessary for me, then, and happy for me, that His mercy endures forever.
It is a gift. It can never be anything else.
A gift deserves a response, and that response is “Thank you.” “O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever.”
Mercy forever deserves constant thanks. The awareness of the constant gift produces a thankful heart.
Our awareness is increased as we read of more mercies from God.
Psalm 118:21 I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation.
1 Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 9:15 Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.
Colossians 1:12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
Psalm 75:1 Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.
Psalm 139:14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
Isaiah 25:1 O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
Revelation 11:17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
Psalm 28:7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
1 Timothy 1:12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;
Romans 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
1 Thessalonians 3:9 For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God;
Psalm 138:2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
The Word, which He has magnified above all His Name, has been sent to us on this tiny, baby-blue ball floating in the outlying regions of one of the myriads of galaxies in a vast universe, that we might know not only the power and majesty of our mighty creator, but that we might know, and know by experience that He is merciful toward us, too merciful to abandon us, so merciful He came to us, so merciful He suffered for us and even took our death.
O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever.
O God, from this tiny, baby-blue ball, hear my little voice, “Thank You!”
