The Father of Mercies

August 21, 2014

The Father of Mercies

“Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!”

Psalm 4:1 (NASB)

The Bible is not the least bit concerned with proving the existence of God. The Bible was written because God is. The purpose of scripture is to reveal the character of God. The very essence of God’s character is God’s desire to be in a right relationship with His creation. In Psalm 4, King David reveals the quality of a right relationship with God. David begins by exhibiting great confidence in his relationship with God by calling out to God, “Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!” (Psalm 4:1 NASB). David was in a right relationship with God because God called and anointed David to be King over Israel. Do you know that you too can call out to God because you have a right relationship with God? Jesus, God’s Son, who was without sin, is in a right relationship with God the Father. “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Because we have been made right with God through faith in Christ Jesus, we can rest in the sure knowledge that God is faithful and will fulfill all of His promises. What does it mean that we can rest? Consider my paraphrase of John 10:27-30: “Jesus, I am yours and I listen to your voice; because you know me I willfully follow you. You give me eternal life, and I will never perish. No one can snatch me away from you, for God my Father has given me to you, and my Father is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch me from my Father’s hand. My Father and Jesus are one in their love and care for me.”

Because of what Christ has done for me I can join my voice with David and call out to God in confidence. Because I trust God, I can rest knowing God will never abandon me. This assurance empowers me to join my voice with St. Paul’s great doxology,” Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God” (2 Corinthians 1:4-5 NRSV).

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.