Scripture

Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, for I will not listen to them when they cry out to me in distress.

 ~Jeremiah 11:14, NLT

Quote

 Mercy, detached from Justice, grows unmerciful.

~C.S. Lewis

Mickey asks me last night about the sin unto death. It is a sin of rebellion on the part of a believer and it brings about a premature death. Both Moses and the children of Israel committed the sin unto death.  Providentially this old blog addresses the subject in a little different context. Twice in Jeremiah 11, the LORD instructs Jeremiah to tell the folks of Judah not to waste their time praying. In verse 11, the LORD says, “I am going to bring calamity upon them, and they will not escape. Though they beg for mercy, I will not listen to their cries.” God is infinite in all His attributes and resources. He will never run out of mercy or patience. You misunderstand if you think that God is running out of anything. God is not diminished by giving. God has an infinite supply of mercy just as He does love or grace. We cannot exhaust His resources, not even through eternity. But the fact that God has mercy does not mean that He is obligated to show mercy. God is sovereign. He can show mercy or not show mercy as He chooses. Mercy is something that we can never demand. We can beg for it, plead for it, but we cannot demand it.

Sometimes parents, teachers, coaches, leaders, employers draw a line in the proverbial sand. When we cross that line, there is no retreat. They gave us many opportunities to get it right and then something snapped and that was it: no more grace. Does God draw a line in the sand? Is there a line that we can cross where He says, “That’s it! No more mercy for you!” If you study the history of Israel, you will discover that God did draw a line for the children of Israel coming out of Egypt. I am one of the few who believes that there is a line. I don’t pretend to see it but I believe that it is there. You can call it superstition or fear of God, I don’t care what you call it but to me it is real. Judah did just like the Israelites under Moses, they disobeyed again and again until they crossed the line. God told Jeremiah, “Don’t waste your time praying for them, I will not listen and when they pray to me, I will not listen.”

My question is this: Have we crossed that line? Has America crossed that line? Do you know? Do you know anyone that knows? I am compelled to be honest: I hope and pray that we have not but I don’t know. Two things I am sure of: God is the only one who can offer mercy because our offense is against Him, thus it must be He who offers mercy. Secondly, we are at HIS MERCY. Make no mistake, God does not have to do anything that He doesn’t want to do. Mercy is His call. I do pray for mercy. I plead for mercy. Mercy is what I lone for and mercy is what I need.

Extra

I seem to stay behind lately so I was forced to go to my archives and pull out an old blog. This one came from June 15, 2013. Joe David and I will be officiating Bradley Fitzgerald’s COLS today. Bradley was promoted last Saturday. He had not been sick that I know of and his sudden departure was a shock to the whole community. Bradly moved back to Danville upon retirement about 5 years ago. He spent most of his life in Florida. I meet him in 1979. He had just graduated from Florida State and was looking for a job. He was living at home with Hugh, Mavis and Joe. Bradley was a very good athlete and he excelled in basketball. He was our go to guy on the church basketball team. I would have loved to have seen he and Joe David play together. Just a few months ago we put a breakfast group together which I named the dream team. John Harold in the middle; Joe and I at forward and Joe David and Bradley at guard. I don’t have to tell you the weak link on this chain. Its like having your grand parents and your grand children together at Christmas–it doesn’t work that way. It is only a dream. Nothing wrong with dreaming. We are going to miss Bradley. Joe is the last of the Mohegians. Hugh was promoted in 2012, Mavis 2017 and not Bradley 2023. It is no secret that this family has been very good to the Bailey’s and we will not forget their kindness.

I hope you have a great day and I trust that all of you got some rain. We probably got over an inch here. Thank You Jesus.