Waiting for Mercy

“Look down from heaven and see,
    from your holy and beautiful habitation.
Where are your zeal and your might?
    The stirring… of your compassion
    [is] held back from me.”

“When you did awesome things that we did not look for,
    you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
From of old no one has heard
    or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
    who acts for those who wait for him…
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
    in our sins we have been a long time…
We have all become like one who is unclean,
    our righteous deeds like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
    and our iniquities… take us away.
There is no one who calls upon your name…
for you have hidden your face from us,
    and have made us melt in our iniquities.

“But now, O Lord, you are our Father;
    we are the clay, and you are our potter;
    we are all the work of your hand.
Be not so terribly angry, O Lord,
    and remember not iniquity forever.
    Behold, please look, we are all your people.” Isaiah 63:15; 64:3-9

“I love the Lord, because he has heard
    my voice and my pleas for mercy.
Because he inclined his ear to me,
    therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
The snares of death encompassed me;..
    I suffered distress and anguish.
Then I called on the name of the Lord:
    ‘O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!’

Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
    our God is merciful…
When I was brought low, he saved me.”

“If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
    O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
    that you may be feared.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
    and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
    more than watchmen for the morning.” Psalm 116:1-6; 130:3-6

Psalmists and prophets alike knew the mercy of God. They understood the history of God’s acts on behalf of man: the agonies of sin’s consequences, the excruciating recognition of rebellion and ongoing cries for relief, and the waiting for mercy to arrive. And arrive they did, always a timely expression of God’s perfect and infinite character, His steadfast love for His redeemed.

To know the Almighty and the inclinations of man is to be confronted with the necessity for deep and effectual mercy. In God’s perfect economy, we often have to wait for it, as He uses time to reveal our depravity, train the soul to confess and seek, and make Himself known. Impatience betrays a lack of humility or smack of entitlement, and may prolong the waiting. The Lord will apply His mercy when He knows His heart work is done.

How often do we acknowledge our iniquity before God? Are we speedy and flippant in prayer, asking for goodies but not confessing our rottenness? Can we see God’s long-suffering with us a loving act of mercy in itself, giving time to turn? How willing are we to come clean and yield to God’s claim on every part of us? Honestly calling on God in His holy habitation while humbling ourselves can open the gate to hopeful expectation, a glorious bounty of mercy, and a fresh rejoicing in salvation. (Psalm 51:1-4,12)

Lord, incline Your ear, extend Your mercy, and keep me ever grateful, to Your honor.