DEPTH OF MERCY!

 

Friday, May 22, 2026

 

DEPTH OF MERCY!

 

Gen 50:15-17

15 And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.

16 And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,

17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.

 

          Warren Wiersbe, in his Bible Exposition Commentary, has such a wonderful comment on this portion of Scripture that I would like to simply include it here without further comment.

 

Afraid to approach Joseph personally, they sent a message to him, hoping to convince him. Did Jacob actually speak the words they quoted? Probably not. If Jacob had wanted to intercede for the guilty sons, he could easily have done it when he was alone with Joseph. And he had seventeen years in which to do it! It's likely that the brothers concocted this story, hoping that Joseph's love for his father would give him a greater love for his brothers.

 

How did Joseph respond to their message? "When their message came to him, Joseph wept" (v. 17). He was deeply hurt that his own brothers didn't believe his words or accept his kind deeds at face value as true expressions of his love and forgiveness. What more could he have done to convince them? Charles Wesley may have had Joseph and his brothers in mind when he wrote his hymn "Depth of Mercy".

 

Depth of mercy! Can there be

Mercy still reserved for me?

Can my God His wrath forbear —

Me, the chief of sinners, spare?

 

Now incline me to repent;

Let me now my sins lament;

Now my foul revolt deplore,

Weep, believe and sin no more.

 

There for me the Saviour stands,

Holding forth His wounded hands;

God is love! I know, I feel,

Jesus weeps and loves me still.

 

Dear Lord, your mercy is, in our thinking, so unbelievable that we need constant reassuring. Help us to rest in the depth of your mercy today. AMEN

 

TERMS OF ENDEARMENT

 

Thursday, May 21, 2026

 

TERMS OF ENDEARMENT

Jer 31:3 

The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. 

 

                Have you ever considered how often and in how many ways God expressed His love? The Bible is full of expressions of love and examples of His kindness. Jaimeson-Fausset-Brown comments on our verse above this way: “Israel gratefully acknowledges in reply to God’s past grace; but at the same time tacitly implies by the expression “of old,” that God does not appear to her now. “God appeared to me of old, but now I am forsaken!” God replies, Nay, I love thee with the same love now as of old. My love was not a momentary impulse, but from “everlasting” in My counsels, and to “everlasting” in its continuance.

 

                When Adam and Eve learned of their nakedness, God clothed them with a sacrifice. When Lot’s family chose a wicked city, God rescued them from ruin. Even Lot’s wife was rescued although she made a fatal decision to reject that rescue. Luk 17:32 “Remember Lot's wife.” Rom_5:8 “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” The admiration of beauty is easy but true love disregards flaws.

 

Eph_5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

 

Dear Lord, let me love like Jesus loved. AMEN

 

BE NOT FAR FROM ME!

 

Wednesday, May 20, 2026

 

BE NOT FAR FROM ME!

 

Ps 35:22

O LORD: keep not silence: O Lord, be not far from me.

 

Acts 17:25-28

…he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;

26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being…

 

The most difficult times for me are those times when God seems far away. Oh, I know with my mind that He is everywhere and that He is near, even in my heart, but there are times when I need Him so badly to be within reach. I need to sense His presence, and I need to hear his voice. Like a child who pillows his head on his mother’s breast I need to feel His breath on my cheek. Many are the times when my soul cries out to God, for the comfort of His presence.

 

Many are the songs that have been written and sung about our human longing for the divine. “Abide with me” is one and “Nearer my God to Thee” is another. These songs remind us of the great gulf that sin has now fixed between us and our God. Yet our very soul was made for the same fellowship with Him that Adam enjoyed in the cool of the evening.

 

Job deeply felt the absence of God although God was every moment observing his calamity. It may seem cruel to us, but God had set in motion a test for Job that would put Satan to open shame. Job was required to remain faithful to an absentee God. So, it seems often to us. We feel that we must walk the trail of tears alone, yet God is there and He will arrive just in time.

 

Ps 56:3

3 What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.

 

Dear Lord, I know with my head that Thou art there, but my spirit needs Thee now. Be not far from me. AMEN