God of Mercy (Ps. 106:1)

 Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. (Ps. 106:1)

The gifted spiritual writer of the last century, A. W. Tozer, makes much of the importance of a right view of God. He says, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us."

C. S. Lewis takes a somewhat opposite view in his famous sermon, Weight of Glory: "[Some say] the fundamental thing is how we think of God....[But] How God thinks of us is not only more important, but infinitely more important. Indeed, how we think of Him is of no importance except in so far as it is related to how He thinks of us."

I can't square this circle, but maybe Lewis does it for us. When I read the above verse this morning I felt its importance is indeed in "how He thinks of us."

How did the Psalmist think God thinks of us? His view puts the lie to the notion that the Old Testament pictures an austere, unapproachable God and the New gives us love and friendship in the person of Christ. One can argue the incarnation changed everything, and it did. But it is an expression of God, the very God of the Old Testament who is not disconnected at all, but reveals his care in coming to earth to be one of us and to give himself on our behalf. That is who the God of the Old Testament is -- One willing to be incarnate.

"The mercy of God endureth forever." This is a well-trod theme in the Psalms, and it comes from the Hebrew chesed. This means something like loving-kindness. 

How might this view of how God thinks of me change my daily outlook?

I have a friend who works in the finance world and he once made a mistake that caused a client to potentially lose one million dollars. My friend was devastated at first and then he remembered: God's view of him was not based on his performance. He was safe with a God whose "mercy endures forever." So he picked up the pieces, walked the hard road, with faith and peace not only intact, but stronger.

I remember not understanding it very well. Performance matters, doesn't it? Indeed. But do we really live in a world in which the most important things about us is how well we do or whether we fail or not? What's that old expression about death beds? "No one ever says I wish I had spent more time at the office."

I readily confess this is beyond me. I can only cite (if you will) the dogma. It is a fixed notion about how God thinks of me. His thoughts toward me are loving and kind; he does not kick me to the curb when I mess up.

In the emphasis of the holiness tradition we sometimes struggle with the distinction between faults and sin, foibles and moral character, mistakes and ethical breaches. Surely this is a common difficulty: in our eagerness to judge things rightly we don't want to give ourselves a pass too much, and we certainly don't want to give an offending party a pass. We too easily judge ourselves on our intention and judge others on their action.

But I dare to believe that no matter how deep the sin or how painful the mistake, "God's mercy endures forever."

His character is the fixed point. He Himself is solid, to be relied upon. All things, not least human persons like you and I, are contingent on the Creator. If He is not good we are done for. 

The Psalmist has the answer: He is good and what's more, his attitude to us is one of mercy. That's good news for all I face today and in all of the unknown tomorrows.