Mercy versus Wrath (Psalm 85:4-7)

Today's scripture: Psalm 85:4-7

Friday's verses seemed to speak to being already forgiven, and yet today's verses are a plea for God's mercy and for His wrath to subside.

If, as we're promised, we're forgiven when we accept the gift of salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ's death, burial, resurrection, then why would we still need to pray for His mercy? I believe it's because we still struggle with our flesh, and so, even though we're forgiven, we still need to confess when we sin and seek His mercy. We still need to rejoice when we receive grace instead of the wrath we so deserve.

Our God is so very, very good to us. We fail Him so often (or perhaps I should speak only for myself). We fall back into sinful habits or ignore Him or neglect to serve Him or others. We don't love as we should, and we don't give as we could. We don't use the gifts with which we've been blessed, or we don't give Him glory when we do.

As I've written before, I honestly wonder sometimes how He puts up with us. We really are the most stubborn, willful, fickle people. Skeptics point out the wrath of God as a reason not to believe, but when I think of the God of the Bible, I only see His wrath when mankind deserved it. He always offered grace when people listened to Him and obeyed Him.

And He does the same today.