Saturday May 17th and I awoke to a yard decorated with frost. Our fireplace has a small but very warm fire crackling in it. Our dog Gibbs is currently covering my feet like living Springer Spaniel slippers and the cup next to me is filled with Door County Red Velvet Mocha Coffee. Frost is not unusual at this time, but very unwelcome by my neighbor who uncovered his pool last weekend hoping for it to warm up.
Micah 7:18-20 (NKJV)
18 Who is a God like You,
Pardoning iniquity
And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?
Pardoning iniquity
And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?
He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in mercy.
19 He will again have compassion on us,
And will subdue our iniquities.
Because He delights in mercy.
19 He will again have compassion on us,
And will subdue our iniquities.
You will cast all our[a] sins
Into the depths of the sea.
20 You will give truth to Jacob
And mercy to Abraham,
Which You have sworn to our fathers
From days of old.
Into the depths of the sea.
20 You will give truth to Jacob
And mercy to Abraham,
Which You have sworn to our fathers
From days of old.
In this passage we see that God does get angry with His people. I have hi-lighted that in red. We would do well to remember that verse. But as we move through the rest of the passages we see that God does desire to pardon us from our transgressions through Jesus. He casts away our sins into the "depths of the sea". God desires to show us mercy.
Now wouldn't we all deep down inside want to be that guy or gal who can do the same thing and show mercy to others? It would be nice, when someone does you wrong, if we could just show mercy and not react with retaliation or anger. It does help when things go awry with others and it seems like they just cleaned up all the dog poop in the neighborhood and dumped it on to your shoes to remember what you are like and how many times God has forgiven you. It is then easier to show mercy when you think of the mercy given to you.
Now that's lesson number one for the day. Lesson number two is do not plant flowers before you are pretty sure that the frost is done for the season. Lesson number three. If you are angry today and need to cool off my neighbor's pool is just the right temperature for you to have a nice cool down.
God bless,
Marty
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