Not Frugal But Lavish

Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.  Isaiah 55:6-9 NASB

Maybe you have difficulty receiving the rich mercy of God not because of what others have done to you but because of what you’ve done to torpedo your life, maybe through one big, stupid decision or maybe through ten thousand little ones.

Do you know what Jesus does with those who turn to Him even if we’ve squandered His mercy? He pours out more mercy. God is rich in mercy. That’s the whole point. 

Whether we have been sinned against or have sinned ourselves into misery, the Bible says God is not tightfisted with mercy but openhanded, not frugal but lavish, not poor but rich. God is rich in mercy and that means that our kaleidoscope of deepest shame and regret is not a void through which divine mercy passes but a home in which divine mercy abides.  

It means the things about us that make us cringe most, make Jesus hug hardest. 

It means our sins do not cause His love to retreat.  Our sins cause His love to surge forward all the more. 

It means on that day when we stand before Him, quietly, unhurriedly, we will weep with relief, shocked at how impoverished a view of His mercy-rich heart we actually had.

It means God’s mercy is not calculating and cautious, like ours. It is unrestrained, flood-like, sweeping, magnanimous. 

It means our haunting shame is not a problem for Him, but the very thing He loves most to work with as He refines, replenishes and restores His people.