“Lord Thank You For Your Mercy, Love And Compassion!”

“Lord Thank You For Your Mercy, Love And Compassion!”
Text: Mi.7:18-20.
God has placed us on this journey of life and has assured us of the best that awaits us upon arrival. But the journey is not smooth sailing. I was suprised when on my first flight, and at a certain point the command came that everybody should take their seats and fasten their seatbelts because we were entering a rough terrain. Then I wondered to myself how plain space could have rough patches! Such is how the journey of life is. It is enjoyable and enviable; but it has rough terrains and arrival is not always certain! Yet the eagerness of taking a flight never diminishes in us because we live on hope that we are going to make it!
Hope does not disappoint because we have a God “who pardons sin and forgets the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance. There is none like him.
One time I almost missed a return flight from Accra because I didn’t leave my town Akropong on time. I came to the boarding gate when the gate was just closing. All the passengers of the flight were already on-board and the plane was idling. I pleaded with the guys on my knees. They had pity on me, so they called the plane. As I rushed in panting breathlessly and apologising to everybody, some were frowning, some were grumbling, etc.
We sin and anger the Lord when we do it our way instead of his prescribed way. He gets angry because we come when the gate is closed. But when we go down on our knees in prayer he has compassion on us. God does not stay angry forever. His delight is to show mercy. He can delay a flight about to take off just because of you a repentant latecomer.
We have sinned, but prayer causes God to “tread our sins underfoot and hurl our iniquities into the depths of the sea.” He has saved us with the atoning blood of his Son. We may be paralysed and broken by sin, but when by our faith or that of others we come before Jesus, he forgives us and restores us to wholeness; despite the grumblings of detractors ( Mk.2:1-12).
Oh yes, come to the Lord in prayer, for he “forgives our sins and heals our diseases…The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse us…he does not treat us as our sins deserve…”(Ps.103:1-10).
My friend, without God’s love and mercy none of us will merit salvation or live a sick- free life. But when we confess our sins to each other and pray for each other, God hears and answers. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective”(Jm.5:13-20). None of us can claim such righteousness, but we become righteous at that moment when we confess our sins to each other and pray for each other.
Therefore, do not rejoice and sing the sin of a brethren, but rather pray that such brethren and you too should be among the “remnant” whom the Lord pardons and forgives!
Sunday prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for your love by which I am among the remnant whose sins are forgiven. Amen!
Have a blessed Sunday! Peace be with you!
Babila Fochang