O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your rage.

Have compassion on me, Lord, for I am weak. Heal me, Lord, for my body is in agony.
I am sick at heart. How long, O Lord, until you restore me?

“You have heard that the Law of Moses says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting like true children of your Father in heaven.”

When others wrong us, we cry out for justice. When we wrong God, we cry out for mercy. Fortunately, God is merciful. But if we don’t accept his merciful gift of salvation, we are subject to God’s justice, the punishment of eternal death and separation from God. Until God sets up his eternal kingdom, where perfect justice prevails, justice will continue to be needed here on earth — both God’s justice to urge us toward his kingdom, and law and order to keep anarchy from ruling. But we would do well to learn some lessons about God’s mercy as we mete out justice. While justice provides law and order, mercy provides hope and forgiveness — God’s formula for restoration.

From TouchPoint Bible with commentary by Ron Beers and Gilbert Beers, Tyndale House Publishers (1996), pp 1220-21

Digging Deeper

For more on this week’s promise, see To Fly Again by Gracia Burnham and Dean Merrill (Tyndale House Publishers, 2005), the follow-up to the bestselling In the Presence of My Enemies.

Content is derived from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation and other publications of Tyndale Publishing House