God Delights in Mercy

Micah 7:18-19  Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. ¹⁹ He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

The Lord God Almighty delights in showing mercy.  Religion has taught that God is looking for a reason to punish.  But that is not true.  God is looking for a reason to show mercy.

As an example I think of Ahab, who was a very wicked king of Israel.  (1 Kings 16:30 And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him.1 Kings 21:25  But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.)

One day Elijah, the prophet, was sent to give a message to Ahab concerning judgment that was coming upon his family because of the wickedness that he had engaged in and that which he was about to do.  Ahab responded by repenting before the Lord.  Repentance attracts God’s mercy. Immediately God brought Ahab’s repentance to the attention of Elijah and pushed back the judgment until the day of the sons of Ahab.  My guess is that had his sons also repented it would have been pushed back again, because God delights in mercy. 

1 Kings 21:27-29 And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly. ²⁸ And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ²⁹ Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son’s days will I bring the evil upon his house.

Knowing that God delights in mercy is a comfort to me. 

Living the Message

Hosea 1:2-3 The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD. ³ So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.

Hosea was a man who was willing to live the message of God’s love before the people of Israel.  Many of the prophets were asked to do unusual things as prophetic demonstrations of the message that God had for His people.  Just as today we have television/movies/internet where we can see and not just hear or read a message, these men were asked to show the message.  Jesus spoke often in parables using examples of things that the people were actually seeing as they were their listening to Him.

Hosea’s demonstration of the message was quite costly personally.  He was to take a woman of “whoredoms and children of whoredoms.”  Some have said this was just an allegory and Hosea really did not marry this woman.  That is not what the scripture says.  It says that he was to take her as his own and then when she went back to her other lovers, he bought her back when she was being sold into slavery.  Hosea was a living demonstration of the love of God for His people.  He was a living demonstration of God’s heart for His people Israel and for each one of us personally. 

The obedience of Hosea is an example of a man who was willing to live the message of God no matter the cost.  Marrying a prostitute and then buying her back must have brought tremendous reproach upon him personally.  It must have been incredibly painful to obey God and then be hurt so deeply by the rejection of Gomer.  It must have also been costly in the natural having to pay the price to buy her back.  But Hosea’s love for Gomer, for God, and for his nation caused him to walk in obedience no matter the cost. 

Am I willing to suffer such reproach and heart pain in obedience to God?  Am I willing to live the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ no matter what it may cost me?  The message Hosea lived demonstrated the tremendous longsuffering love of God.  It demonstrated God’s heart of compassion for the backslider.  Will I live the message by demonstrating God’s love to the backslider?  Will I live the message in whatever way He asks?  These are question I ask myself as I contemplate the life of Hosea, prophet of God.