Mercifully Forgiven

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Mercifully Forgiven

Saturday, October 13, 2018

“The king asked, ‘Is there no one left from the house of Saul //to whom I can show God’s kindness?’” (2 Samuel 9:3 NIV)

Summoning Ziba, a servant of the late King Saul, Israel’s King David asked, “Is there no one left from the house of Saul //to whom I can show God’s kindness?”  David’s royal advisors and military leaders must have gasped /when they heard the king’s incredible question.  Kindness and the name Saul did not belong in the same sentence.  Saul, a madman, had fought against God’s anointed for the throne.  Saul had been full of evil.  He broke promises.  He was spiritually schizophrenic.  He destroyed innocent people with no remorse…. How incredible it was for David, then, to search for ways //in which to bless his archenemy’s household and descendants!

Clearly, the mercy and incredible favor () God had shown to David remarkably affected the king’s soul.  Instead of spoiling for payback and harboring a spirit of vengeance, David’s heart was filled with mercy and kindness, the very qualities () God had demonstrated by promoting him so highly.  David knew firsthand that Jehovah was the God of unmerited blessing and favor, so how could he not follow suit?  Long before the new covenant was established, David experienced the new heart and new spirit () God promised to give to true believers.

I wonder how many of us live [stunted, narrow lives] /because we hold tightly /to the record of wrongs /committed against us?  How much of our physical illness, chronic insomnia, or high anxiety is rooted in the memories of nasty rejections and painful hurts of years past?  By not forgiving, by not letting these wrongs go, we aren’t getting back at anyone.  We are merely punishing ourselves /by barricading our hearts, which are channels of God’s grace. 

* get back at someone definition: to punish someone because that person has done something wrong to you

How can [the Lord //who delights in mercy (Psalm 25:6; Ephesians 2:4)] walk with and abundantly bless a heart //that is filled with resentment and unforgiveness?  That is a spiritual impossibility /because God cannot deny his nature.  Is there a more solemn verse in the New Testament than Matthew 6:15:  “But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins”? …

Note the question () David asked:  “Is there no one still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?”  It was God’s kindness at work in David’s heart //that made him reach out to his enemies with mercy and blessing.  He wouldn’t give them what they “deserved” /because God had not dealt with him /in that manner.

* deal with; Take action in, handle, administer, dispose of

The next time () we are convinced of how right we are and how unjustly we have been treated, we would do well to remember this story.  The next time () we are certain /that people deserve judgment and mustn’t “get away” with the wrongs () they have committed, let’s each stop and think, Is that how God has treated me?  If he reacted to our sins against him /as we often react to the sins of those //who offend us, where would we be today?  The truth is, we have all been mercifully forgiven /countless times /in ways //that no one but God knows…

Rather than remembering the wrongs /committed against us, we would be far better off /remembering this promise of Jesus:  “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7).

-Pastor Cymbala (excerpted from The Life God Blesses)

Read 2 Samuel 9:1-13.