By Jonathan Keller
After four hundred years of silence, the enslaved Israelites heard from a redeemer. Through Moses, this God declared to them that their captivity was ended. No more would they fire and lay bricks for those who whipped them. Their portion would be a land flowing with milk and honey, a land with pastures and vineyards for centuries ahead of them.
What did they do in return?
They caroused when the Lord took forty extra days to speak to them in the wilderness! They fashioned a statue of gold out of the very treasures that this God had plundered from the Egyptians for their sake, after they had explicitly promised not to craft such an idol to worship or bow down to it.
Who would this God be to them?
“A God merciful and gracious.”
A God
This voice who led them into the wilderness came from no mere man. Moses had to be His spokesperson, for a taste of God’s presence enveloped a whole mountain with fire! This God lived high in the heavens, which, along with the earth, He created not with hands but by His Word. He spoke, and everything that is became what it is! As the one high above all things, He is holy and deserving of all glory fitting His divinity.
Merciful
Yet the One enthroned in the heavens steps down with the heartbeat of a father toward wayward children. His heartbeat pulses for their good. When they quickly fell from their covenant promises, He determined to keep His side of the promises out of His great mercy. As He sees into the future of His people, He still steps out into compassion for His people, desiring to lift them up and guide them gently day by day.
Gracious
This same King dotes on His people! Who were these people, that God should relieve them from their slavery? Many people before and many people after would be enslaved by kings and emperors – why is it that these people should not only be set free but should be the Creator’s treasured possession? Why is it that He should raise them up to be the pride of joy of all the nations of the earth? Why is it that, even today, He goes out to save people from every nation through the Gospel of His Son, Jesus? He saw nothing in Israel nor in you nor in me that draw Him to us. He chose by His own grace to save us to bring glory to Himself. Even for non-Christians, the Lord sends rain and riches to even the most wicked!
A God Merciful and Gracious
Maybe you are similar to me in that my first instinct when I receive such compassion and favor is to presume upon it. I can do whatever I wish if I know that God will always lift me up and care for me!
Instead, think of how a merciful and gracious God wishes to see more of Himself in us. What if His mercy and grace are the water and nutrients that we need to sprout into merciful and gracious trees? His bending down to bless us ought to raise up even more mercy and grace in us toward the rest of creation. As He cares for me in my low condition, I have all I need to care for my neighbor in her low condition. As He gives grace for all my foibles, surely I ought to go to my enemy and extend him a hand.
Ponder these things, and ask for His Spirit to enable you today to share His mercy and grace with others made in the image of God!