The Mystery of God’s Mercy

“For she thought, ‘I will follow my lovers, the men who give me my food and water, my wool and flax, my oil and drink.’ Therefore, this is what I will do: I will block her way with thorns; I will enclose her with a wall, so that she cannot find her paths. She will pursue her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them.”- Hosea 2:5-7

“Therefore, I am going to persuade her, lead her to the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.”– Hosea 2:14

I stumbled across these passages the other day and thought, “Lord, this is exactly what You have done for me many years ago! Isn’t it cool that some of us can look back to when we were separated from God, yet see His hand over our lives and how He methodically led us to Him- though it is not something we had realized He was doing at that time?

Before I began my walk with the Lord, I had pursued other lovers and searched the world to fulfill me. Looking back, I can see that God was merciful in giving way to my sins. I got to experience the thrill of relishing in the world’s treasures and rebellion, but I also experienced the dissatisfaction, the anguish, the pain, the heartbreak, the embarrassment, and the consequences in the aftermath of my sins. God allowed me to sin through my free will, because He wanted me to know what it felt like trying to quench my thirst with what the world had to offer, only to be left feeling spiritually bankrupt, so that I would eventually run after the true Living Water.

Although God had given way to my sinful nature in some ways, I also remember the times when He mercifully blocked my paths with thorns and enclosed a wall around me to protect me from myself. I can remember specific times when I would make plans to do certain things and chase after certain things (things that God considered sinful), but there was always some sort of interruption or inconvenience that occurred in the midst of day-to-day life that physically prevented me from getting to carry out those plans.

I realize now that those roadblocks that ruined my plans and hindered my chase were not of coincidence or happenstance, but of the sovereignty and providence of God. God foresaw with His divine knowledge that certain things that I had planned would wreck me. He protected me from doing certain things, which ultimately, spared me of consequences (that I would have deserved). When He put a roadblock in my path of sin and destruction, He led me to His heart and spoke tenderly to me. He gave me a new life, a new identity, a new nature, and a new future.

The relationship between God and man and how a man, who comes into this world as an enemy of God, becomes transformed into a new creation in Christ Jesus all begins with God’s mercy. The way that God demonstrates His mercy for the purpose of drawing us near to Him is such a divine mystery. He demonstrates mercy to us in different ways for His own purposes. And it is all for our good and how He intends to work in us. He can demonstrate mercy by giving way to our sins and allowing us to endure certain consequences so we can understand the gravity of sin; and He can demonstrate mercy by protecting us from our destructive paths and redirecting us towards Him. I have experienced God’s mercy in both ways, which has molded me and shaped me into who He created me to be. And for that I am thankful.