Mercy 3: Tears and Mercy...New Every Morning

In a world full of vengeance, God offers mercy and forgiveness. This is devotional #3 for the June 2 Worldwide Prodigal Prayer Day, to help us pray for our prodigals and for wanderers all over the globe. Our theme this year is Mercy. Whether or not you love a prodigal, surely you desire more mercy in your life.

How many tears have you shed for your loved one?

You have loved, provided, encouraged. You have fed and clothed, trained and taught, loved and lectured, reprimanded and reproved. You have fallen to your knees and on your face. You have seen them go and waited for them to return.

So you can identify, at least a little, with our God.

His children, His nation, His people. He built them up, provided manna and quail and water. He gave them victory after victory. He led them to the Promised Land. What did He ask for in return: to love Him and to obey the laws He established for their flourishing and freedom.

Yet, century after century they turned from Him, abandoned His laws, loved other gods.

I imagine He wept many tears.

So we come to Lamentations—a book of laments over the destruction of Jerusalem and enslavement of God’s children. A book of many tears.

This book has often been attributed to Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, though that is questioned now. The lamenter bewails the loss, the terror, the death and destruction, acknowledging God had every right to bring the Babylonians against them in return for their choices.

These few verses represent the pain and sorrow described throughout Lamentations:

He has brought unending sorrow and tears
upon beautiful Jerusalem.

I have cried until the tears no longer come;
my heart is broken.
My spirit is poured out in agony
as I see the desperate plight of my people.

What can I say about you?
    Who has ever seen such sorrow?
O daughter of Jerusalem,
    to what can I compare your anguish?
O virgin daughter of Zion,
    how can I comfort you?
For your wound is as deep as the sea.
    Who can heal you? (Lamentations 2:11,13)

Then, suddenly, abruptly, we find these words of hope and restoration, these words of mercy:

The faithful love of the Lord never ends.
    His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
    his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
    therefore, I will hope in him!”

The Lord is good to those who depend on him,
to those who search for him.
So it is good to wait quietly
for salvation from the Lord. (Lamentations 3:22-26)

These are the words of our God for His rebellious people. And these are the words He gives us for our rebellious loved ones:

“I love you—always have and always will. I am faithful, and my mercy is forever—new every morning. I am all that you need. You can hope in me. I will be good to you, even as you search for me in all the wrong places.”

So yes, we can wait quietly for rescue and redemption from the Lord, as we remember God’s mercy on us, and pass it on to our prodigals.

Waiting with you,

Judy Douglass

P.S. 1. Please be spreading the word about Prodigal Prayer Day. Anyone can send the names (we just use first names) of any prodigal we can pray for. And we welcome any who would like to join our praying community. Reply to this email and request an invitation to Prayer for Prodigals, an online prayer community.

2. I am giving away two lovely “bottles of tears” so two of you can “capture your tears for the Lord to save.” To be entered in the drawing, which will be done May 24, reply to this email and tell me you will be praying for prodigals on the June 2 Prodigal Prayer Day.

3. Here is the promised merciful music for this week: Mercy is a Song Matthew West