Covenant Mercy

The Mercies of Covenant Relationship Psalm 106 begins meaningfully with these words: "Oh give thanks unto the Lord....for His mercy endureth forever." "Mercy," is surely one of the sweetest words in all the Bible to the sinner's ears. It is also one of the most recurrent themes of God's word, appearing in one form or another nearly 500 times from Old Testament through the New. The preciousness of God's mercy is keenly amplified in the unfolding of the106th Psalm. In a theme as prominant as the Lord's mercy, the sins of His people are recounted in an unbroken strain across the pages of their long history: "We have sinned with our fathers," says the Psalmist..."they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies....they soon forgat his works...they envied Moses...they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass...they forgat God their Saviour which had done great things for them...they despised the pleasant land...murmured in their tents and hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord...they were mingled among the heathen and learned their works..." What a tragic litany of sin...what a dreadful commentary on the race of men...what an uncanny description of so many of us who name the name of Jesus. Were these thoughts in the "heart book" of the Bible not written "for our learning?" Have we not as God's people in Christ so often followed in those paths "with our fathers?" How soon we too forget the multitude of God's mercies in removing our sins as far as the east is from the west. How quickly in life's trials we with Israel forget his great works of new birth and special providence in our lives. With what thoughtless frequency do we change the glory of Christ into an ox-like image of brutishness...preferring to feed on the temporal grasses of the world instead of on the bread which comes down from heaven. Rightly with the Psalmist we might say: "we have sinned with our fathers!" Most tragically of all, don't we too, with Israel of old, often even forget God our Saviour in life's busy pursuits? The profoundness of Calvary looses it's grip on our minds. Like a lover whose heart has been stolen by another, our hearts grow cold and no longer deeply stirred by his love for us. A love which moved him to "become sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." And too, like that unfaithful lover, His voice that once caused our hearts to race and our feet to respond, is often a sound which is "hearkened not." It is little surprise that we finally read in this Psalm that God was provoked to anger with their inventions! "His wrath," we read, "was kindled against his people" and "they were brought low for their iniquity." The history of God's people Israel bears testimony to this truth. It is a history of tears, loss, and leanness of soul. Perhaps too, in your life, as in mine, their has been a good bit of this being "brought low." As Hebrews records: "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." But beautifully, wonderfully, and mercifully, the Psalm does not end here. In verse 45 we read that God "remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies." How thankful we should be for such covenant mercy which Zacharias, father of John the Baptist, refers to in Luke's gospel, ....as "mercy promised to our fathers," in his holy covenant. It is such "promised mercy" that is ours in the New Covenant of Jesus Christ. The promised mercy of this "better" and "eternal" covenant are assured by the work of Calvary. Jesus established this important fact with his disciples when he said of the Passover cup, "This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many." It is on the basis of this covenant work that John writes in (1 John 1:8-9 KJV) "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. {9} If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." This is covenant mercy. And though our sins be many, our transgressions great, our chastening painful, "There is... now," Paul exclaims in Romans 8, "no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." We, who by this same mercy, can surely rejoice with the the Psalmist who began where we end today, "Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever."