God’s Mercy Exceeds Our Understanding

“For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’

It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For Scripture says to Pharaoh: ‘I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.’ Therefore, God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.” – Romans 9:15-18

No one can understand how big God’s mercy is. God can show mercy to anyone He wants or chooses to. We cannot truly comprehend His ways since our minds and hearts are sinful and our way of thinking and our understanding of why He allows things to happen are corrupted by sin. When it comes to showing mercy to people, He does it to who He wants to. Romans 9:12 clearly shows this by God stating that He loved Jacob but hated Esau. He declared it even before the two brothers were born. They did nothing good or bad, it was just God’s choice that He picked one over the other. This shows that salvation of anyone comes from God only.

We may wonder if God is just in choosing one over the other. God is just because no one deserves to be saved (Romans 3:23), and the salvation of someone is all due to God’s mercy alone, as the citation of Exodus 33:19 affirms:

“I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will announce my name, the Lord, so you can hear it. I will show kindness to anyone to whom I want to show kindness, and I will show mercy to anyone to whom I want to show mercy.”

His mercy is given to people who do not deserve it or have not earned it (Ephesians 2:8-9). Salvation is not earned but is given to people as a free gift through Jesus’ obedience and death. God had to help us and save us because we cannot save ourselves (Ephesians 2:8-9).

When it comes to showing mercy to people, God does it to who He wants to. Psalm 115:3 reaffirms it by saying, “Our God is in heaven. He does what He pleases.” With that being said about our heavenly Father, we should try to show mercy to others as well.

Prayer for the day:

Dear heavenly Father,

You are one with all of the mercy and do what You please with it. You have showed mercy throughout the Bible. You saved humans from death even though we do not deserve it. You are just in doing so since You are God. We can never understand why You do what You do. Please help us to trust You when we have questions or doubts. We will struggle to understand because Your ways are bigger than ours. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen!