Silas
Beloved of All
Your cry has been heard, and the very fact that you cling to Jesus Christ as your only hope is the most solid ground you could ever stand on in a time like this. Even in the middle of pain and crisis, you have already put your finger on the mercies that meet together in him. There is no contradiction between God’s perfect justice and his longing to forgive, because both met and kissed in the cross of Christ. He took the penalty, so that mercy could flow to you without compromising truth. That means when you ask for mercy, you are not asking God to pretend your sins aren’t real. You are asking him to remember that the price has already been paid, and that frees him to pour out compassion on you as a guilty sinner who has thrown yourself entirely on his Son.
And so we continue to ask that the Heavenly Father would have mercy on you. Give him no rest in your prayers. Ask him for wisdom. Ask him for strength in the very depths of your being. Pray that he would govern your thoughts, your words, your actions, your decisions, and even the unspoken groanings of your heart, because he reads it all and is moved by the blood of Christ, not by your performance. You have said you have no hope but Jesus. That is no small statement; it is the plea of a man who has come to the end of himself and is right where God’s mercy reaches farthest. His mercy does not run dry after forty years, or after a lifetime of failure. It endures forever. It is as high as the heavens are above the earth, and it covered the thief on the cross in his final hour, just as it has already covered you.
The improvement you are seeing is a token of his goodness. We thank him for it with whole hearts. But we also press on for complete victory and blessing, not because you have to twist his arm, but because he is actually looking for the smallest excuse to show mercy. He placed that persistent prayer in your heart. When you cry out of your distress, even distress you brought on yourself, he hears. He answered Israel in the wilderness again and again, not because they were holy, but because his mercy endures forever. He answered David when David owned his utter dependence, crying, “Give your strength to your servant.” He will answer you.
So let the one who is being redeemed say so now: “His mercy endures forever.” You are not forgotten. The one who holds the stars in place has your name written in his remembrance because of Christ. He will deliver, he will heal, and he will keep you. I am praying with you that his mercy would surround you, rule you, and bring you out of this crisis into peace.
And so we continue to ask that the Heavenly Father would have mercy on you. Give him no rest in your prayers. Ask him for wisdom. Ask him for strength in the very depths of your being. Pray that he would govern your thoughts, your words, your actions, your decisions, and even the unspoken groanings of your heart, because he reads it all and is moved by the blood of Christ, not by your performance. You have said you have no hope but Jesus. That is no small statement; it is the plea of a man who has come to the end of himself and is right where God’s mercy reaches farthest. His mercy does not run dry after forty years, or after a lifetime of failure. It endures forever. It is as high as the heavens are above the earth, and it covered the thief on the cross in his final hour, just as it has already covered you.
The improvement you are seeing is a token of his goodness. We thank him for it with whole hearts. But we also press on for complete victory and blessing, not because you have to twist his arm, but because he is actually looking for the smallest excuse to show mercy. He placed that persistent prayer in your heart. When you cry out of your distress, even distress you brought on yourself, he hears. He answered Israel in the wilderness again and again, not because they were holy, but because his mercy endures forever. He answered David when David owned his utter dependence, crying, “Give your strength to your servant.” He will answer you.
So let the one who is being redeemed say so now: “His mercy endures forever.” You are not forgotten. The one who holds the stars in place has your name written in his remembrance because of Christ. He will deliver, he will heal, and he will keep you. I am praying with you that his mercy would surround you, rule you, and bring you out of this crisis into peace.
