Mercy!

“God gave in. ‘It won’t happen,’ he said.” Amos 7:3

Well, those are words I always like to hear. God tells me I’ve got it coming, then relents and says, “Nope, you’re not going to have to pay this time.” “Whew”, we think, “that was a close one!” And perhaps we bow gratefully before our merciful God. Or maybe we just skip away not realizing the ramifications of what God has just done.

Yes, I love hearing God declare that His mercy has once more triumphed over judgment. Unfortunately, as humans, we don’t like what it costs. Mercy is dependent on our admission of the need for mercy. If we keep defending our actions, keep saying we have done nothing wrong, keep arguing for why we really should get away with bad attitudes, bad behavior and all around “me-centered living”, well, we won’t get mercy.

Not because God doesn’t want to give, but because we have just declared that we don’t need it. And, when it comes to handing out mercy, God takes us at our word. I can’t tell you how many sad stories I know of people who needed all the mercy they could get, but kept insisting they did not have a problem.

It is the maxim of every recovery program that the first step in any changing is admitting we have a need and that we are helpless on our own to change the behavior. People have come to me, right out of prison on DUI charges and saying, “I don’t have a problem with alcohol.” A Christians puts another group of people down, and instead of admitting they need God’s mercy says, “I’m just honest”

These are the ones God takes at their word. They do not get to hear “give in” and say, “I have changed my mind, you will receive My mercy.”

You see, in the verses just preceding this one, God showed Amos a vision of locusts swarming over the entire land in response to Judah’s constant sins. Judah had looked down upon those in need, calling people so much trash, and essentially stealing from the poor because of their attitudes.

Amos, sensitive to the nature of His country’s sin, but also aware of the devastation such judgment would bring, cries out, “God, my Master! Excuse me, but what's going to come of Jacob? He's so small.”

That is when God relents. “God, what will come of me? I am so small. My strength is not enough at all to change my behaviors. I have been small-minded, acting like I’m better than others. What will become of me?”

That is the cry that receives mercy! It is just like the sinner who prayed in the temple, the one Jesus told us about who simply prayed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” That is the one that Jesus said left that day “approved” by God.

If we lay aside our defenses, stop acting like we are always right, admit we are small and small-minded, how quick God is to say, “I have changed my mind!”

Mercy is ready at a moment, but it comes at great cost: the admission that we are far less than we think we are, and need it far more than we can imagine.