Lately I have been thinking a lot about God's mercy. Partly this is because I have been visiting an Orthodox church for the last few months in which the liturgy has an anthem, it seems, of "Lord, Have Mercy." One cannot walk away without being reminded of God's mercy. At first, I wondered why they ask God for mercy so much. But then I realized that this is probably a correct view of oneself. I am a sinner and He is God. He is holy, I am not. His desire is to give mercy to me, a sinner. I pray "Lord Have mercy" because of who is He and because of who I am. I am reminded over and over that God's love and mercy pursue me. I pray for it because it is His desire. More than that, I pray for it.....because I am acknowledging that I need it. Some scriptures come to mind today. I thought I would simply post them here.
Psalm 103:8-14,17
"The Lord is merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor punished us according to our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
As a father pities his children,
So the Lord pities those who fear Him.
For He knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust. . .
But the mercy of the Lord is
from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children's children...."
About Me
- jen-o
- My life is a journey of learning to live it with all its joys and pains. "And the end of all our exploring shall be this: to arrive at the place we began and know it for the first time' -TS Elliot
2 comments:
I love this Psalm... shortly after father died, a devout and godly man, I was crying to God and asking Him,"what will happen to my children, who will be the godly man in their lives to guide them?"(this was before Mitch, I was 26 at the time)...He brought the verse Psalm 103:17 to my mind(I was not a big bible reader at that time, I went to the Vineyard).....I went right to my bible and looked it up, and I was greatly comforted and have been many times over the years. Especially after becoming Orthodox and knowing that my dad has not stopped praying for us, because he truly is alive with God.
I had that verse put on his headstone.
Hi Jenni,
I hope you are well. Thanks for the invite to your blog. I feel honored.
A question I asked before visiting an EO church was if works was emphasized more than grace.
I think you just answered that question in your reflections. The mercy of God, and our need for it, is emphasized so much throughout the liturgy. So, yes, while we are actively involved in the struggle, our need to cry out to God for help every second of our lives is foundational.
Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me a sinner.
Elisabeth
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