JMH part 4

I think there is a difference between showing mercy and loving mercy. Remember how in the beginning of this chapter Israel was asking God what He required of them: “… a thousand rams, 10,000 rivers of oil, my firstborn?” Well, asking God to have mercy on someone without loving mercy would be very similar to the spirit Israel was displaying in that passage. Even with mercy, the heart must be engaged. Doing justice is our outward focus, it is what people see, but doing mercy or being merciful comes from an inward focus. 

What does the Lord require of us? to love mercy! To long for the Will of God to be accomplished in the hearts of those around us, even our enemies, is to love mercy. This is a heart check. Can you honestly desire mercy for those who terrorize others? 

I had an interesting experience a few years back just after coming home from a ministry trip to Ukraine – a bombing in Paris had taken place as we were traveling to Ukraine: even as we were going through the Paris airport. I had been watching and listening to the news about the terrorism in Paris when I had an opportunity to hear Dean Niforatos speaking from a church in Beach Park, IL. I was upset with what I had been seeing and hearing. Men willfully, and deliberately, killing innocent human beings can easily get to us. But as Dean was sharing about his ministry, he asked those in attendance and us listening to pray for the Muslims. 
 

Over the years, Dean’s ministry has established several churches in Muslim countries. He has members of his organization living with the threat of death all the time and yet he said, “Please don’t get mad at people who have no understanding about Jesus, when they do bad things.” He called us and reminded us, “Pray for God to have mercy on their souls.” That’s the heart of an evangelist – one who thinks about the salvation of the lost before all other things. So that really convicted me because I just wanted to be mad. 
 

The next day another evangelist friend of mine put this on Facebook regarding the Paris attack:
“Nothing is known as yet about who the killers are but if they are Islamic extremists, it would significantly increase the already-existing prejudices against Muslims the world over. As a result, innocent Muslims would suffer and it would serve to radicalize even more young Muslims who the Islamists are trying to win over to their side.
 

I am also concerned about how far-right Extremists in Neo-Nazis Europe (and others like them) might exploit these terrible events to justify their hatred towards immigrants. The world is in a very dark place right now. Let us be full of the Holy Spirit, pray, and win as many souls for Jesus as we can, Muslims included, in this very dark hour of human history. Let us also show the love and kindness of Christ to all of our Muslim neighbors. Only the Love of God can draw them to the Cross to meet the Savior.” Christopher Alam (former Muslim who is now born-again). 

In light of the idea of loving mercy, I found then-French President Hollande’s comments about what he planned to do about the attack interesting: “We will lead the fight, and it will be merciless.” I found it fascinating that he used the word “mercy” in his comments because all week long I had been meditating on the words of the prophet, “Love mercy.” 
 

(Let me just inject here that the leader of a nation has a different responsibility than the ordinary “Joe Christian.” And men and women in the military can follow orders and still be very much in line with the Scriptures (which tell us to obey those in authority over us, even if it involves war). I do not have a problem with our military or police doing whatever they need to in order to protect us. Mercy can come in the form of correction - but I’m not talking about those in the military.)

Continued tomorrow