Devotionals

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Exodus 32:9-14

"Mercy triumphs over judgment!" (James 2:13).

We humans are a violent and vindictive race. Our first tendency when someone hurts us is to retaliate, and, if it were up to us, even Christians who fall should suffer for it. It is God whose grace is overflowing and whose mercy extends to all generations.
However, in the Scriptures there are several examples in which men of God interceded for mercy to a God fed up with rebellion. When Moses descended from Mt. Sinai after receiving God's Law, the Hebrews were revelling in a wild, idolatrous orgy. At that point God declared to Moses, "Leave me alone...that I may destroy them! Then I will make you into a great nation." Of course, God was perfectly just in this suggestion and it may have been tempting to Moses. The wayward people had been a giant pain and here was a chance to build a nation from his own posterity. Instead, Moses pleaded for the people's lives, and God held back his judgment.
In another case, God told Abraham he intended to wipe out Sodom for its perversions. In an intriguing conversation, Abraham negotiates with God until God agrees that if there are even ten righteous people in all Sodom, He'll spare it for their sakes.
Abraham and Moses hadn't forgotten their own faultiness. They understood very clearly that they themselves depended upon God's mercy every single day.

Vital Reinforcement:
"In judging others, a man labors to no purpose, commonly errs, and easily sins; but, in examining and judging himself, he is always wisely and usefully employed."
-Thomas 'a Kempis

Life Focus: The holy God of justice can take vengeance when necessary. It's better for us sinners to think mercy.

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