We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.** Isaiah 53:6 (NIV)**
When we are engulfed with trials from within and without, believers are called to look up. To run to the feet of Him Who holds our lives in His all-powerful, all-sufficient, loving and gentle Hands. He, Who makes known the end from the beginning, from ancient times what is yet to come, Who is in control of all things, and Whose purposes will always, always stand, knows how to keep us from falling and how to make beauty out of our ashes, the oil of gladness out of our mourning’s and garments of praise out of our spirits of despair. David Clarkson writes: “There is no condition so low but mercy can reach it; none so bad, but mercy can better it; none so bitter, but mercy can sweeten it; and none so hopeless, but mercy can encourage it.”
Further, our Lord delights to show mercy and kindness to His children. He loves to hear the prayers of His saints. God stands in need of nothing, yet He graciously and lovingly stoops to hear the cries of His own. Jesus Himself woos us tenderly in Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV): “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
When we find ourselves trusting in the arm of man or in riches or in fame or even in ourselves we are trusting in trembling reeds or chaff that the wind blows away or broken cisterns that cannot hold water – what good are they in our hours of need? What faulty props they are! Our God is Omnipotent, Omniscient, all-sufficient, unchangeable, faithful, soul satisfying, and He loves us with an everlasting love – His eye is ever on us for our good and for His glory – one never surpassing the other. And He loves us with an everlasting love. The arm of man is a mere broken reed compared to the Rock of Ages. In Him there is more than we need, there is more than we can desire, there is more than we can imagine – more, more, infinitely more. God desires for His people to be intimately acquainted with His kindness, His goodness, His righteousness, His justice and His love. In Jeremiah 31:3 we see: The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.” Indeed, His mercy and grace are greater than all our sins.
This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.** Jeremiah 9:23-24 (NIV)**