Silas
Beloved of All
Your cry for mercy has been heard, and it is the right cry to bring to Jesus. In the midst of bewildering horrors and the confusion you feel about deeds and words, about wickedness and about the final chapter of life, there is a place to stand, and it is in His mercy and His truth.
The Bible speaks of death first of all as separation from God, the separation of the soul and spirit from Him because of sin. That is the deepest death. Every person will one day walk through the valley of the shadow of physical death, unless the Lord comes first, but for the child of God that valley holds no terror because He is with us there. Death has been swallowed up in victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. The sting of death was sin, but sin has been taken away at the cross, so we can say, O death, where is your sting, O grave, where is your victory. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Jesus. Our Savior has abolished death by His appearing and brought life into light. We no longer need to live in bondage to the fear of death, that king of terrors, and we do not need to be trapped by the fear of man or the fear of what is coming in this world. The fear of man is a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.
You ask what you can say regarding His name and what life holds for you. His name is Jesus, and to declare His name is to declare salvation. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to those who keep His covenant and walk in His ways. Mercy and truth have met together in Jesus Christ. Mercy alone without justice would violate truth, and truth alone without mercy would condemn us all, but at the cross they met. There God could be both just and merciful, forgiving the guilty because justice was satisfied in His Son. By mercy and truth iniquity is cleansed. That is how you can have peace with God and be made righteous before Him, not by your own goodness but by His grace.
You also speak of the Helper going with your mother, and the ache in that is real. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. If your mother belonged to Jesus, her death is not loss in His eyes but precious, a homegoing. The grief for you is deep, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, has not left you. Jesus promised He would abide with His people. Even when those we love are taken, He remains to comfort, to teach, and to keep us.
The mercy of the Lord is as high as the heavens are above the earth toward those who fear Him, and from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear Him, even to their children and grandchildren. To fear the Lord is to hate evil and to depart from it, to reverence Him above all else. That fear tends to life, and the one who has it shall abide satisfied and not be visited with evil in the ultimate sense. His mercy endures forever. That is why the redeemed are to say so. Though we are at fault, though we are to blame, when we call upon the Lord in our distress, because His mercy endures forever He forgives, He delivers, He heals. He heard the groaning of those appointed to death and loosed them, that His name might be declared.
So call upon Him now in your distress. He will answer and set you in a large place. Confess your sin and your need, turn from evil by reverencing Him, and trust in Jesus alone for salvation. Ask Him for His strength, for you cannot stand in your own. He is plenteous in mercy and truth and He will have mercy upon you when you turn to Him. He will give you grace and peace, and the mercy you need for this hour.
May the Lord turn to you, have mercy upon you, give you His strength, and give you peace through Jesus Christ, who has conquered death and whose mercy endures forever.
The Bible speaks of death first of all as separation from God, the separation of the soul and spirit from Him because of sin. That is the deepest death. Every person will one day walk through the valley of the shadow of physical death, unless the Lord comes first, but for the child of God that valley holds no terror because He is with us there. Death has been swallowed up in victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. The sting of death was sin, but sin has been taken away at the cross, so we can say, O death, where is your sting, O grave, where is your victory. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Jesus. Our Savior has abolished death by His appearing and brought life into light. We no longer need to live in bondage to the fear of death, that king of terrors, and we do not need to be trapped by the fear of man or the fear of what is coming in this world. The fear of man is a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.
You ask what you can say regarding His name and what life holds for you. His name is Jesus, and to declare His name is to declare salvation. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to those who keep His covenant and walk in His ways. Mercy and truth have met together in Jesus Christ. Mercy alone without justice would violate truth, and truth alone without mercy would condemn us all, but at the cross they met. There God could be both just and merciful, forgiving the guilty because justice was satisfied in His Son. By mercy and truth iniquity is cleansed. That is how you can have peace with God and be made righteous before Him, not by your own goodness but by His grace.
You also speak of the Helper going with your mother, and the ache in that is real. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. If your mother belonged to Jesus, her death is not loss in His eyes but precious, a homegoing. The grief for you is deep, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, has not left you. Jesus promised He would abide with His people. Even when those we love are taken, He remains to comfort, to teach, and to keep us.
The mercy of the Lord is as high as the heavens are above the earth toward those who fear Him, and from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear Him, even to their children and grandchildren. To fear the Lord is to hate evil and to depart from it, to reverence Him above all else. That fear tends to life, and the one who has it shall abide satisfied and not be visited with evil in the ultimate sense. His mercy endures forever. That is why the redeemed are to say so. Though we are at fault, though we are to blame, when we call upon the Lord in our distress, because His mercy endures forever He forgives, He delivers, He heals. He heard the groaning of those appointed to death and loosed them, that His name might be declared.
So call upon Him now in your distress. He will answer and set you in a large place. Confess your sin and your need, turn from evil by reverencing Him, and trust in Jesus alone for salvation. Ask Him for His strength, for you cannot stand in your own. He is plenteous in mercy and truth and He will have mercy upon you when you turn to Him. He will give you grace and peace, and the mercy you need for this hour.
May the Lord turn to you, have mercy upon you, give you His strength, and give you peace through Jesus Christ, who has conquered death and whose mercy endures forever.
