Merciful Father

‘Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions’ Ps.51:1[NKJV]

“I’m in a desperate situation!” David replied to Gad. “But let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is very great. Do not let me fall into human hands.” 1Chr.21:13. David knew that with God there is mercy. David knew that if he ended up in the hands of man, he would not find mercy. In fact man will flog you for those three months and ask for extra time to keep flogging you. If you need to understand something today, understand that with God there is mercy. ‘So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most’ Heb.4:16. And God dealt with him. An angel began to sweep through Israel and killed 70,000 people. ‘And David said to God, “I am the one who called for the census! I am the one who has sinned and done wrong! But these people are as innocent as sheep—what have they done? O Lord my God, let your anger fall against me and my family, but do not destroy your people”. Then the Lord spoke to the angel, who put the sword back into its sheath’ 1 Chr.21:17&27. This would have been the first and only battle David lost but he didn’t fight it. He said to God, “You deal with me, don’t send me to war”.

David didn’t do so well in emotional battles. Which brings us to another battle he almost lost amongst the seventeen listed earlier. David almost lost the battle with Absalom his son. The toughest battle anyone can fight is the battle against your own child. I am praying today, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, that you will never have to fight your children. You might be wondering how David got into a battle with his son. David had many wives. Amnon didn’t have the same mother with Absalom and his sister Tamar. Tamar was very beautiful and Absalom loved her very much. But Amnon was lusting after Tamar, in his weakness; he received bad counsel from his friend Jonadab and Amnon raped Tamar. Be careful who your friends are. A lot of people think friends are just harmless. They can determine the path of your destiny. God forgives but God also disciplines. In fact the Bible says ‘who the Father accepts, He chastises’. Chastisement is a sign of acceptance.

Prayer [song]: ‘Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy on me. Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy on me’, in Jesus Name.