Favour vs. Mercy

Exodus 33:^17-19 “The Lord replied to Moses, “…for I look favourably on you, and I know you by name.” Moses responded, “Then show me your glorious presence.” The Lord replied, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, Yahweh, before you…”

In Exodus 33:12-19 (please read), if you do not pay attention, you may miss this part, and it is because we miss it easily. Moses said to God, “If I have found favour (grace) in Your eyes, then show me Your face (let me see You).” God said, “No one can see Me and live. But I will do something for you, I will let you see all my goodness.” And God did something very instructive. When God was passing by, He covered Moses with His hand and said, “The Lord, the Lord gracious and merciful, forgiving iniquity for thousands of generations. God introduced Himself as a merciful God. If you walk with God, you will understand what I am saying. By the time you experience God, you will be thanking God for His mercy.

And God made a huge statement in Exodus 33:¹⁹ “…I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” (NKJV). The New Living Translation puts it this way, “…For I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.” Moses asked for favour, but God said it is mercy! Favour is getting what you don’t deserve. Mercy is not getting what you deserve. So, God was passing in front of Moses, and He said, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy”. In other words, Moses, because you have gotten to this level, you deserve to die. But you will not die, Moses, because I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Otherwise, you probably will be wondering what Moses has done wrong to deserve mercy? Nothing!

When we pray for mercy, some people probably look at us and think, “Let God have mercy on these bad people”. Not knowing that people who are far from God need mercy, and people who are close to God need mercy. Wherever you are on the spectrum, you need mercy. Moses found mercy; you will find mercy in the Name of Jesus. The nature of the mercy of God is that it does not need anyone’s permission, and it is above anyone’s query. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy means I will have mercy on whoever I choose to have mercy, and let’s see who will question Me.

I have shared with you how I play a game with God. I say to God, “Lord, You know what? Let’s play a small game. Bless me so much, and let’s just look for who will question You.” Don’t ask me what He says.

Prayer: Father, I thank You because in Christ, You have chosen to have mercy on me. Let Your unfailing mercy speak for me and my camp consistently, in the Name of Jesus. Amen!