“For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” (Romans 9:15 NIV)
God has compassion for who He wants. One of the hardest things to understand is God’s mercy and compassion. From our human standpoint, we think certain people don’t qualify, others do. Why do some people suffer beyond what we can imagine, while others seem to have perfect lives? The ultimate question people ask: Why do bad things happen to good people?
We have to accept hard truths in our lives. One of them is that good people don’t exist. We are all sinners by nature. None of us deserve the mercy and compassion God has given us:
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 NIV)
We are all sinners, saved by grace.
A second truth to accept, death is a part of life. We struggle understanding why people have to die? The younger someone is, the harder death is to understand. I have family members and friends who have lost children. I’ve met mothers who have lost children to cancer before they reached their teen years. I’ve sat with grieving parents who have lost children in car accidents, at gunpoint, or from illness. None of those moments are easy for anyone. The grief and heartache is palpable. Times like these, there are no words, just raw emotions words can’t explain. Without life, death wouldn’t exist.
Where is God’s compassion and mercy when children die?
We can’t understand such a complex question on this side of heaven. Only God knows. At such pivotal times, we have a choice. We either trust God or we don’t. We either believe God has a purpose or He doesn’t. We choose whether God will work this heartbreak to the good, or He won’t. Every day, in every situation, we have a choice of what we are going to do.
When my nephew died, I chose to trust God. When I tell people about that day, I talk about a pivotal moment. Five minutes before I received the phone call telling me he had passed, my husband walked in the front door. He had come home from work early. His arms were there to hold me when I received the devastating news. He was there to drive me to the hospital, a half hour away. God’s mercy and compassion for me in the midst of heartache was evident in those five minutes. When I think back on the worst day of my life, my faith is strengthened, not weakened.
God has compassion and mercy for everyone. The problem is our perspective.
Question of the Day:
Do you need a perspective changed today?
Further Reading: 2 Chronicles 14-16 NIV, Romans 9:1-24 NIV, Psalm 19 NIV, Proverbs 20:1 NIV
