Sunday, August 2, 2015

Psalm 41- Mercy elicits God's Mercy

1Blessed are those who have regard for the weak;
the Lord delivers them in times of trouble.
2The Lord protects and preserves them—
they are counted among the blessed in the land—
he does not give them over to the desire of their foes.
3The Lord sustains them on their sickbed
and restores them from their bed of illness.I said, “Have mercy on me, Lordheal me, for I have sinned against you.”

Thoughts: Jesus said, "Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy."  This Psalm reflects that too.  Blessed are those who have regard for the weak- for in their weakness , their sickness, their sin, God has mercy on them.  More than that, God protects and preserves them so that they are able to show more mercy to others.  The Lord not only gets them through their sickness ("sustains them on their sickbed" vs. 3), but God also raises them up- restoring them (vs. 4 and vs. 10),  There is more hope for God;s mercy upon the merciful. A similar saying would be to say forgive others as God has forgiven you.  Be merciful to others so that God may have mercy upon you.   The doctors, nurses, therapists, counselors, and those in the healing and helping professions are people to whom mercy is shown  Dr. Kent Brantley risked everything to face Ebola- contracting Ebola himself.  But he survived, and took his family back to Liberia.  Today there is a hopeful vaccine for Ebola.  But it took people like Dr. Brantley to work and research in order for there to be a cure. 

Prayer: Lord, help me to have a merciful heart and merciful hands that I might experience mercy for oth3ers and mercy from you.  

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