Monday, May 08, 2006

grateful for mercy

“ ‘Why,’ she said, ‘we are just the same—I am only a little girl like you. It’s just an accident that I am not you, and you are not me!’ ”
Sara Crewe from A Little Princess (written by Frances Hodgson Burnett), said these words to the scullery maid, Becky.

Her words remind me of how grateful I ought to be. Although my role in this world is certainly no accident, but rather predestined by God, I do count myself blessed. Who knows why God chooses to put certain people in particular places?

The Bible clearly states in Romans 3:10-11, “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.”

Nothing in me merits the fact that I’m living comfortably in America with anything I could possibly want. Besides that I know God planned it that way, there’s no particular reason why I was born in America instead of being born in Africa with AIDS. It’s through no merit of my own that I’m still alive and have every reason to expect to stay alive as opposed to being killed in a massacre.

In that vein of thought, the fact that I’m a Christian has nothing to do with anything good in me. Why would God choose me to be a part of his kingdom and allow someone else to go to hell? I’m no better than them. I don’t claim to understand God’s ways, but it’s thoughts like these that cause me to tremble in fear and worship my God because He is so great.

In Exodus 33:19 the Lord says, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

Job realized the enormity of God’s power in Job 12:9-10, “Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this, In whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?”

Who am I to complain about my life when I’m the recipient of divine mercy?

Psalm 18:28-30
“For You will light my lamp; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. For by You I can run against a troop, by my God I can leap over a wall. As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.”

2 comments:

Wholesome Works said...

Good post!

... it’s thoughts like these that cause me to tremble in fear and worship my God because He is so great.

I agree, unfortunately I've seen people who take these thoughts and puff up in pride, or curse God that they aren't like this or that.
We can never know why God has done what He has done, but we can be thankful and use it for Him.

Thank you for posting this. :)

Zachary

Elizabeth Pruett said...

This was really good. I am so grateful to God that I was placed in the family I am in. Thank you for another great post.