Surprised by Mercy

I recently wrote an article titled Trust Issues that gives the backdrop to what follows. If you haven’t yet read that one, it would help to make sense of what follows. You may find some benefit either way or you may not find any good at all! Nevertheless, there is more to the story and I do not believe it to be my own.

We often speak of how good God is and we love to sing “Amazing Grace.” I have been challenged recently, however, to ‘put my money where my mouth is’ on this and practice this kind of faith when dark clouds dim the light of his face. 

In some cases, we are faced with dark clouds on a single front. Perhaps it is some financial hardship or a difficult working relationship. It could be the health of your children or some conflict with a loved one or even marital unfaithfulness. Whatever it is, it tends to sap our energy and threatens to steal our joy in the Lord. And sometimes, it succeeds, even if only for a moment. I don’t think I am the only one who has experienced this either.

In my particular case, it was on more than one front. The dark clouds seem to come from many sides. There was loss of several dearly loved brothers and sisters either within or directly connected to our little church. There has been pressing matters of pastoral leadership that have weighed heavily on my heart. But, and most close to home for me, the adoption process that my family is going through has been the longest lingering of all the dark clouds. They have also been the darkest at times.

I want to be clear that it has not been all bad. I also want to be clear that the Lord has been quite faithful and good in all of this and my marriage, family, and the church in which I serve have all become stronger through all of this. Lasting faith is forged in the flames and, despite the scars, these refining trials have indeed had a purifying effect. 

The title of this article and the truth I am taking too long to get to here is that while we plead for God to be merciful on us in all of this, we were surprised when he did. It is not that we were surprised that God was merciful to us. No, in fact, we expected this would be the case because God does not lie, and he has promised good for his people. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Rom 8:32)

We had prayed expectantly for mercy in this adoption process. We have trusted God for this mercy. We have cried for it and pleaded for it. Still, we knew that God would have mercy even is this adoption does not work out the way we have planned. Remember: no matter how bad things get and no matter how far our lot falls from our expectation, God is working something better for us. Ultimately, as we read in Romans 8, that greatest good is conformity to Christ.

So, while we plead for mercy and expected God would give it, we had open hands with the outcome of things. God is not obligated to show mercy in the way we expect, even if we can see no other way.

Here is where we have been surprised by mercy. God had humbled us through the difficulty. We went from telling ourselves that “everything will be alright,” to questioning whether that was true, to realizing that it may not end up the way we expected, and it may end up terribly painful and contrary to our expectations. In this moment, God taught us that he remains good. 

Even if our eyes cannot see the good that he is working, and perhaps especially when we cannot see it, God will display his goodness and mercy. Often, he does this in ways we could not have expected. This has been the theme of our praise lately. God has surprised us by mercy. While the adoption process is not complete, certain things have worked in our favor in ways we could never have expected. But isn’t that just like our God?

Because of sin, the curse of judgement and death has come on all. In our sin, we remain separated from God and alienated from his love. Apart from Christ, we are enemies of God. While God had called a people out from all the earth and promised to bring salvation through the Serpent Crusher, they had expected that this would come in a victorious overthrow of the powers of darkness at work in political forces and that when he did arrive, that they would experience this victory in a real-time, physical deliverance. 

What actually happened was that the King came humble and poor, riding into town on a colt. He came sorrowful and suffering. He won the victory not through his overthrow of the Roman authority or political warfare. He accomplished victory through death on a cross, a symbol of shame. 

If this were not surprising enough, he rose on the third day for the justification of all who believe. He left them with a charge to carry this news of God’s surprising mercy to the ends of the earth. Before ascending back to heaven, he left his Spirit with them to carry out the work that only God can do in transforming our hearts and awakening others to this same life-giving truth of salvation in Christ alone.

If you’ve not come to believe this truth, may God surprise you by his mercy today. May he soften the hardened heart and bring light to your darkness. 

 If you have come to believe this, remember the Lord’s mercy today. Call upon him for that mercy and hold your expectations with open hands and a loose grip. And may you too be surprised by mercy.