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Tag Archives: Mercy

Luke 18:35-43

17 Nov

35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind beggar was sitting beside the road. 36 When he heard the noise of a crowd going past, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him that Jesus the Nazarene[f] was going by. 38 So he began shouting, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

39 “Be quiet!” the people in front yelled at him.

But he only shouted louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

40 When Jesus heard him, he stopped and ordered that the man be brought to him. As the man came near, Jesus asked him, 41 “What do you want me to do for you?”

“Lord,” he said, “I want to see!”

42 And Jesus said, “All right, receive your sight! Your faith has healed you.” 43 Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus, praising God. And all who saw it praised God, too.

Luke 18:35-43

Dear God, I’ve read this story many times over the years (decades), but for some reason I am honing in on the man’s cry, “Have mercy (pity) on me.” I was in that mode a couple of weeks ago. I really needed some intervention and healing. Not even necessarily my own healing, but in people I know. I was desperate. I was getting other people involved. I was getting others to pray. I was praying. I even fasted for a period of time. I was desperate. And yet, my desperation was probably nothing like that of this many who was living a marginalized life 2,000 years ago in a society that probably didn’t do much to accommodate him and help him live an actualized life, but probably either blamed him or his parents for his condition (John 9:2 – 2 “Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?”) Was the mercy he cried for just healing, or was he looking for forgiveness of his sins too? Did he blame himself or his own parents for his condition?

Oh, that’s an interesting thought. Had this man’s blindness come between him and his parents? Was he born blind? I would think that, for their society, if someone was born blind then you couldn’t blame the baby for the sin so the blame would naturally fall on the parents. Did he blame his parents too?

Father, once again, mercy comes in and cuts out all the knots in the fishing lines of our lives. I need your mercy. I need the mercy of others in my life. There are people who hold things against me. I need mercy from them. And I need to give mercy. Help me to know what to ask when you or someone else stops and asks me, “What do you want me to do for you?” I want you to heal me. Heal me from my self-inflicted wounds and the wounds done to me by others. Heal me. Love me. And pass all of that through me so that you might give others love and mercy through my life.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on November 17, 2025 in Luke

 

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Jonah 4

25 Oct

4 This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. 2 So he complained to the Lord about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. 3 Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.”

4 The Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?”

5 Then Jonah went out to the east side of the city and made a shelter to sit under as he waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 And the Lord God arranged for a leafy plant to grow there, and soon it spread its broad leaves over Jonah’s head, shading him from the sun. This eased his discomfort, and Jonah was very grateful for the plant.

7 But God also arranged for a worm! The next morning at dawn the worm ate through the stem of the plant so that it withered away. 8 And as the sun grew hot, God arranged for a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah. The sun beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to die. “Death is certainly better than living like this!” he exclaimed.

9 Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?”

“Yes,” Jonah retorted, “even angry enough to die!”

10 Then the Lord said, “You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. 11 But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?”

Jonah 4

Dear God, first, I want to apologize. When I was looking at the Assyrians in Nineveh and them being an enemy of Israel, I was suspecting you of having ulterior motives for sending Jonah to warn them of their destruction. Maybe you needed them to repent so they would be there for Israel and help her. I was trying to look at the big picture. But here it is in verse 4:11b: Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?” Answer: Yes, you should. And that should be enough for your mercy.

Is it ever the right thing to be angry about mercy? I can’t think of a time in the New Testament when looking down on mercy was the right thing to do. In the story of the Prodigal Son/Father, the older brother was angry about the mercy. He was wrong. In the story of the woman caught in adultery, a lot of people were angry at Jesus’s mercy, and they were wrong. When Jesus forbade James and John from calling down fire from heaven to destroy the Samaritan city because he had mercy on them and respected their decision to refuse him passage, they were wrong.

Rich Mullins had a song he wrote for his friend’s new son called “Let Mercy Lead.” The chorus: 

Let mercy lead 
Let love be the strength in your legs
And in ever footprint that you leave
There'll be a drop of grace
If we can reach 
Beyond the wisdom of this age
Into the foolishness of God
That foolishness will save
Those who believe
Although their foolish hearts may break
They will find peace
And I'll be you in that place
Where mercy leads

Father, I’m still haunted a bit by a question a person asked me the other night. He’s one of these people who is always saying he’s doing fabulous or terrific. We were getting out of our cars at the same time, and he asked me, “How are you doing,” and I did my normal thing of saying I’m doing “alright” with a little pensiveness in my voice. He asked what could change so that I’d be doing great. It was a good question, I suppose. I’ve thought about it since then. Why do I respond the way that I do? Why don’t I go the “Terrific!” route or the “Just fine” route? I guess it’s because I want to be authentic, and there are laments in my life. I walk with a limp, and I don’t want to hide my limp. I don’t invite everyone into my laments. I don’t broadcast them. But if a fellow sojourner wants to know what my laments are I’ll tell them. And usually when I do it helps them. What does this have to do with mercy? I don’t know. Maybe it’s because some of my laments involve me figuring out how to give mercy when it’s not requested or deserved. Some of it is me doing things I don’t want to do but you’re calling me to do, like Jonah (see yesterday’s prayer). Some of it is that I need some mercy extended to me that is not coming in the foreseeable future. So help me to be authentic, but also help me to not try to use the answer to the “How are you?” question as an opportunity to get others to feel sorry for me. That’s certainly not what I want. I am loved by you, and I am not a man to be pitied, no matter what my circumstances are.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on October 25, 2025 in Jonah

 

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Matthew 12:14-21

19 Jul

Then the Pharisees called a meeting to plot how to kill Jesus. But Jesus knew what they were planning. So he left that area, and many people followed him. He healed all the sick among them, but he warned them not to reveal who he was.

This fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah concerning him: “Look at my Servant, whom I have chosen. He is my Beloved, who pleases me. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not fight or shout or raise his voice in public. He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle. Finally he will cause justice to be victorious. And his name will be the hope of all the world.”
Matthew 12:14-21

Dear God, I particularly touched by the end of this passage from Isaiah: “Finally he will cause justice to be victorious. And his name will be the hope of all the world.”

I will probably be talking about the men from Christian Men’s Life Skills for a long time. I’ve been so moved by my time with them. All of them had some type of run-in with the law and were there to earn community service hours. On the day they were arrested for whatever it was they had done, I am sure they did not care much for justice. I am sure they didn’t want it to be victorious. They were probably, at a minimum, embarrassed and, at a maximum, furious that justice was treating them like this. What they didn’t know was you had a path for them through that gate. At some point down the road they would end up in a class with 19 other guys as well as some instructors who were donating their time to not only teach them but love them. Offer them grace through your power and love. Offer them you! And they found their hope. Not all 20 of them at this experience. But that’s okay because you still planted seeds in them that might just take a little longer to find fertile soil.

It reminds me of a Phillips, Craig, and Dean song called “Mercy Came Running.” It’s a deep cut back into 90s Christian music. The chorus says, “Mercy came a runnin’, like a prisoner set free. Past all my failures to the point of my need. When the sin that I carried was all I could see. And when I could not reach mercy, mercy came a runnin’ to me.” These guys have found the mercy in your justice. I’m finding it everyday for myself as well. Mercy, mercy, mercy. Blessed are those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. It’s a two-way street. It’s impossible to really receive mercy if I’m incapable or unwilling to give it.

Father, I pray for these men, the teachers and myself. We all need to give mercy and receive mercy from you and others we’ve hurt. Thank you for your system of justice. Thank you that the name of Jesus is the hope of all the world.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on July 19, 2025 in Matthew

 

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Psalm 95

10 Apr

Psalm 95

1 Come, let us sing to the Lord!
    Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come to him with thanksgiving.
    Let us sing psalms of praise to him.
3 For the Lord is a great God,
    a great King above all gods.
4 He holds in his hands the depths of the earth
    and the mightiest mountains.
5 The sea belongs to him, for he made it.
    His hands formed the dry land, too.

6 Come, let us worship and bow down.
    Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,
7     for he is our God.
We are the people he watches over,
    the flock under his care.

If only you would listen to his voice today!
8 The Lord says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah,
    as they did at Massah in the wilderness.
9 For there your ancestors tested and tried my patience,
    even though they saw everything I did.
10 For forty years I was angry with them, and I said,
‘They are a people whose hearts turn away from me.
    They refuse to do what I tell them.’
11 So in my anger I took an oath:
    ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”

Dear God, reading this as a 21st-century American, I’m shocked with how this worship psalm ends. Was this typical for them? Did it cycle around and use something as a chorus to make this ending more hopeful and worshipful. I am preaching at a church several weeks from now, and I started to wonder if the first part of this psalm wasn’t the message you wanted me to give. “If only you would listen to his voice today.” Then I saw the rest of it that ended in such a negative place. It stunned me. I know I’ve read this before, and I’ve probably had the same response before. But it still stuns me to see this description by the psalmist of what they imagined you felt (or you revealed to them you felt) for those 40 years between Egypt and they Jordan.

In today’s entry into Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation, Sister Miriam actually focused on the line I focused on, but she included the first part of verse 8, “Don’t harden your hearts…” She quote the Catholic Catechism (CCC 2840): “Now–and this is daunting–this outpouring of mercy cannot penetrate our hearts as long as we have not forgiven those who have trespassed against us.” She follows up later and says, “Forgiveness is asking Jesus Christ for the grace to forgive. It is relinquishing our grasp upon the person who hurt us, surrendering the person to Jesus and asking Jesus to restore justice. It is an acknowledgment of the pain inflicted, how it affected us, an ongoing emotional release of it, and a decision to offer that person and ourselves a gift of love and freedom.”

Father, there are times when I think I have forgiven everyone, but then anger flashed back to me. Maybe it’s a new offense. Maybe it’s a reminder of an offense that I thought I had worked through and forgiven. Maybe it’s trying to find that line between loving and forgiving while still not trusting. I do know that I don’t want a hard heart. Even in my daily vocation, I work with clients who sometimes deceive me to get what they want. It can be hard to not become calloused for the next person even though they might legitimately need me. As I sit here now, I’m reminded of an old song by Petra called “Don’t Let Your Heart be Hardened.” I just looked up the song and listened to it. Frankly, it sounded pretty trite and “easy to say,” until I got to the last verse:

Let His love rain down upon you
Breaking up your fallow ground
Let it loosen all the binding
Till only tenderness is found

I think that the key to be really becoming forgiving and merciful is coming to deep terms with how sinful I really am and how much I really grieve you sometimes. And also how sinful I was before I finally turned to you and started worshipping you faithfully. But when I really see myself in the mirror, accept who I am and what I’ve been forgiven of, then I will more easily give your love and forgiveness to others. Help me to do all of this, Father.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on April 10, 2025 in Hymns and Songs, Psalms, Restore: A Guided Lent Journal for Prayer and Meditation

 

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Micah 6:6-8

04 Jan

6 What can we bring to the Lord?
    Should we bring him burnt offerings?
Should we bow before God Most High
    with offerings of yearling calves?
7 Should we offer him thousands of rams
    and ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Should we sacrifice our firstborn children
    to pay for our sins?

8 No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good,
    and this is what he requires of you:
to do what is right, to love mercy,
    and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:6-8

Dear God, I was talking with a pastor friend the other day about theology and how errant mine (and everyone’s) probably is. I mean, really, how can we know you? How can we think we can begin to understand you and what makes you tick? How to ensure we have your favor? It’s ridiculous. So while I have my thoughts about you, I tend to hold them loosely with the understanding that I can’t begin to understand how little I understand you. As far as I am concerned, you are un-understandable.

So why do I walk in faith. Because I am a believer in the two great commandments: Love you with everything I have and love my neighbor as myself. I told my pastor friend that when I am on the other side of life and you are considering whether or not my soul is worthy of eternity in your presence, I envision you patting me on the head and saying, “You know what? You had a lot wrong about your so-called “theology,” but you loved me and you loved others. That’s what I needed you to do.”

That’s kind of what Micah is saying here. Do what is right. Love mercy. Walk humbly with God. I can contrive all of these things I should do and sacrifice to be with you, but in the end it’s about simply doing these things.

Father, help me to do that today. Help me to do what is right. I mean, really right. Help me to show incredible mercy because you have show me incredible mercy. And help me to simply walk humbly in your presence. Holy Spirit, walk with me and speak to me. Jesus, advocate for me to the Father and teach me. And Father, well, all I want is your love. Thank you for giving it to me so freely.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on January 4, 2025 in Micah

 

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Ephesians 1:18

01 Nov

18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

Ephesians 1:18

Dear God, I love the idea of praying this for people. When I don’t know what to pray, maybe I should just prat that their hearts will be flooded with light so that they can understand the confident hope he has give to those he called–his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. What a great thing.

I have a relative who texted my wife and me last night asking us to pray for her husband who is about to have a significant event today. We prayed together about it this morning, and, frankly, this isn’t too far off of what we prayed for all of them (her husband, her, and their families). Then we prayed for our children as we always do, and this was kind of the tone of that prayer well. Their joy. Their peace. But I like this: “That [their] hearts will be flooded with light.” YOUR light. The light of your grace and glory shining in them, through them, and out of them.

And then as I pray for my wife today. For myself. For my friends and coworkers. For the friend who lost her mother yesterday. “That [their] hearts will be flooded with light.” My wife has a hectic few days with different activities. Flood her heart with light. I have a lot going on in the next 24 hours. Flood my heart with light.

Father, the reason I know you are a good God is because the closer I get to you the “gooder” I get. I know you are a loving God because the closer I get to you the “lovinger” I get. I know you are a merciful God because the closer I get to you the “mercifuler” I get. So let your light shine in, through, and out of me today. You are a good God. You are a loving God. You are a merciful God. You are a just God. You are a compassionate God. I could go on and on. I am grateful that you are my God.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen

 
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Posted by on November 1, 2024 in Ephesians

 

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“Know Who You Are” (from Moana) by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mark Mancina, and Opetaia Foa’i

28 Sep

“Know Who You Are” (from Moana)

https://youtu.be/2q77EqqzLIk

Dear God, I got home from rehearsal last night and there was a gap between Friday night college football games so I flipped channels and landed on the movie Moana. It was towards the end so I rode it out until it was over. When it came up at the end, I remembered the reaction I had to this scene and song the first time I saw the movie.

I have an old friend I’ve know for over 20 years who, several years ago, chose to start going down a self-destructive path. In fact, at lunch yesterday, I was telling another friend about him and wondering what role you have for me to play in his life. Do I have a voice to speak into his life? If I said something, would he hear me? Would I come across as sanctimonious? Would it destroy the shreds of friendship we have left? On the other hand, am I failing him by not risking everything for him? And if I did say something, what would I say?

That’s where this song/scene comes in. I don’t know what happened to my friend that made him turn on a dime. I don’t know if he did something that caused him shame or if something shameful happened to him. Perhaps neither. Perhaps both. But there are times I feel like I know him in a way that he doesn’t. Or at least I remember something about him that he has forgotten. When I first saw this scene in 2016, I thought of him, and I thought of him again last night. Is it a coincidence that I was talking about him yesterday and then I saw this last night, or was it providence?

So, Father, if the green heart in this scene can represent the renewing mercy and grace you offer, show me how to carry it to my friend with this message.

I have crossed the horizon to find you

In other words, I’m willing to risk everything to bring you this message.

I know your name

I know you in a way and things about who you are that you’ve forgotten.

They have stolen the heart from inside you

Something happened that caused you shame. Whether it was self-inflicted or done to you, it stole and hid from you who you are.

But this does not define you

There is mercy and grace. You know God. I know you remember the mercy that is available. Don’t let the secret of whatever happened control you.

This is not who you are

This is the truth. You may not see it, but this is not who you are.

I know who you are

Please remember and cling to Jesus. Let him heal your wounds.

Father, show me the way to him that I might carry your message to him and to others around me as well.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on September 28, 2019 in Hymns and Songs

 

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Peter & John — 1 John 3:11-18

11 Feb

1 John 3:11-18 NIV
[11] For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. [12] Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. [13] Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. [14] We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. [15] Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. [16] This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. [17] If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? [18] Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

Dear God, I am glad that I went through the Gospel passages that referred to John so that I could learn a little more about him before getting to this letter. It’s important to remember what kind of person he was when he first met Jesus. Basically, he was self-righteous and vindictive. He was the one wanting to call down fire on the Samaritans for not wanting Jesus to pass through their territory. I can’t remember them off of the top of my head, but I know there were other examples too. Jesus had to directly teach him grace, mercy, and empathy and help him purge the self-righteous anger he felt for others.

So that’s the guy now who is trying to teach the lesson he learned. I suppose when I’m all done with this series on Peter and John, one of the things I should do is take what Jesus had to teach them individually as disciples and examine how those lessons informed the message(s) that each of them felt they needed to communicate to others. It goes back to the saying, “Our suspicions of others are aroused by the knowledge of ourselves.” What you have taught us is what we have to teach.

So what have you taught me over the last 30+ years of being a discipling Christian? I’ll tell you, I’m a humbler parent than I used to be and I’m much less judgmental towards other parents. You’ve taught me the importance of faithful time in scripture. You’ve taught me that the people I’m most tempted to judge are probably the ones who are most in need of my love and forgiveness (and your love and forgiveness). You’ve taught me that life is about one moment at a time spent in pursuit of you, and to not look to the future with any sense that I know what I’m talking about.

Father, those are just a few of the things you’ve taught me for which I’m grateful. And not that I’ve completely learned these lessons. I don’t mean to say that. Certainly I still judge others, fail to pursue you moment to moment, and I don’t always spend faithful time in scripture. But you have given me that message, and my prayer now is that you will help me to know how to live that message today.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 11, 2019 in 1 John, Peter and John

 

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Peter & John — 1 John 3:1-6

07 Feb

1 John 3:1-6 NIV
[1] See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. [2] Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. [3] All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. [4] Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. [5] But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. [6] No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

Dear God, going back to verse one, is it good that we would be so into you that people wouldn’t recognize who we are? Is there a line between pursuing you and being righteous and being so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good (I stole that last part from someone I can’t remember from my childhood).

I read Fred Smith’s weekly blog post this morning and it happened to kind of coincide with this. It basically addresses insecurity and how sometimes our temptation is to use what we can to make ourselves feel equal to or better than others. It might be the independence that personal wealth provides that will make us feel untouchable. It might be knowing deep down that our hearts are still wretched so we don’t extend the mercy to others that you extended to us. I think that last one is the danger to verse one.

Of course, there is also the hubris and inexperienced zeal of youth. I think of young Christians and how on fire they can be and how judgmental of other Christians they can be. For example, I visited my grandparents when I was a young, newly discipling Christian. I was just shy of 20 and visiting them for my spring break. They took me to their weekly Bible study. I judged every person in that room as being lazy in their faith and not doing anything to outwardly reach out to others. Their faith felt completely dry to me. As I remember, I think I actually challenged my grandmother (maybe both of them) later. And maybe they needed to be challenged. But I’m sure I did it poorly. The experience of life has taken off some of my edges and added tact. The question is, are my edges gone completely? Do I have any remaining edge to pursue holiness myself and encourage it in others?

Father, help me to live a life dedicated to pursuing you and then flow through me into others around me. Make me salty and give the the courage you need me to have. Fred’s blog mentions Joseph (Jacob’s son) and his brothers. Joseph was foolish in how he handled his dreams. What give me hope for my life is that you had already factored Joseph’s foolishness into your plan and used it to accomplish your will. I pray that you will do the same for me.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on February 7, 2019 in 1 John, Peter and John

 

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Division and Grace

10 Jan

Dear God, I heard/read a couple of things this week that are coming together into a complete thought.

This morning I read Fred Smith’s blog post called “The Great Wave of Schism.” It it he talked about the small cracks that form between us that eventually become breaks. It made me think of something that you taught me years ago. Causing division between people is Satan’s Plan A and he rarely needs a Plan B. It started with him causing division between you and Adam and Eve. It moved on to Cain and Abel and continues to this day. Right now our nation is unbelievably divided and our leadership is not helping. It feels like the trench warfare of WWI. Everyone is dug in. No one will advance and a lot of damage will be done.

Earlier this week I heard a sermon by Andy Stanley about the grace and justice that Jesus brought to the table. Frankly, I think it was the best sermon I’ve ever heard on describing your balance of grace and mercy. While I read Fred’s piece this morning, the thought occurred to me that grace and mercy are your Plan A to combat Satan’s Plan A, and you rarely need a Plan B.

Father, I’m glad you are the one that I serve. I know I fail. I know I can be part of divisions. I know I fail your sense of justice and I fall short of your glory. But your grace restores me to wholeness with you and then that experience enables me to extend grace to others. Help me to be a carrier of your grace into the world today.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

 
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Posted by on January 10, 2019 in Miscellaneous, Musings and Stories

 

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