MERCY AND TRUTH HAVE MET TOGETHER

Writing again for Five Minute Friday.     Today's prompt is TOGETHER. 

When I hear the phrase, 'have met together', I think of two people coming together in fellowship, friendship, love, reaching out to shake or clasp hands.   

When I first saw that phrase a few months back, in Psalm 85:10, I was amazed!  

Mercy and truth have met together.....

Of course, much of the psalms is poetic and figurative and pretty in its language, so that shouldn't have surprised me.  

What surprised me was that it was confirmation of what the Lord had been showing me elsewhere in Scripture and in my life, and here it was in a beautiful word picture.   

At the time, God had shown me that He is so incredibly ready to give mercy to people, to people, but we can't receive mercy without first recognising truth, admitting truth.   

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.

He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever.

He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities.

For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;  as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.  Ps 103:8-12

Mercy and truth have to go together.   I mean, there is no need for mercy if we don't need forgiveness and cleansing from sin.   For us to receive from Him, we need to recognise our sin, let go of our sin and our inclination to sin.

The ones who got the most from Jesus while He walked on this earth, were those who recognised their need, their poverty, their emptiness, their brokenness.    

He came full of grace and truth.  I love that.  He was overflowing with both of those.   They were met together in Jesus Himself.  

For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  John 1:17

And in verse 16 of the same chapter it speaks of the abundance of His grace.  

For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received [all had a share and we were all supplied with] one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift [heaped] upon gift.

I think of Nathaniel, Zaccheaus, Peter, the Samaritan woman at the well, the woman caught in adultery, the man who sat by the pool for 38 years, the woman who washed his feet with her hair, the woman with the issue of blood, the demoniac who lived near the tombs, and so it goes on.  

They all learned the truth from Him in some way, and they all found themselves at His feet.  

And when they recognised the truth He carried, His mercy met the truth of their condition.   

If we want to receive mercy, we need to start with the truth - hearing truth, receiving truth, believing truth, accepting the truth and opening our hands and our hearts to Him, to receive mercy.   

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation... Eph 1:13

....if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus....  Eph 4:21

.......who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  1 Tim 2:4

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.   2 John 1:3

In the very next line of Psalm 85:10, it says that righteousness and peace have kissed each other.   

How beautiful a picture does that paint?   Seems to me that peace and righteousness go together, need each other.   

Seems to me that peace requires righteousness, right standing, right walking, right living.   There's no real peace without that.    They must go together.   We can't expect the peace of God in our lives while we do our own thing, make up our own rules, follow our own ideas and ideals and idols.   

..............for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.   Rom 14:17

....but glory, honour, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  Rom 2:10

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.  Rom 8:6  

Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it.  Ps 34:14

I will hear what God the Lord will speak, For He will speak peace To His people and to His saints; But let them not turn back to folly.  Ps 85:8

So mercy and truth must go together; peace and righteousness must go together, like four very important parts of the picture.   

I'll leave some more verses from Psalm 85 here.  They speak of God's grace to us, His desire to do us good, and our responsibility to respond to His goodness.  

I will hear what God the Lord will speak, for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints; but let them not turn back to folly.

Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land.

Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed.

Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

Yes, the Lord will give what is good; and our land will yield its increase.

Righteousness will go before Him, and shall make His footsteps our pathway.  Ps 85:8-13

A beautiful song from Chris Tomlin about grace and truth and mercy

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear

And grace my fears relieved

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed

My chains are gone, I've been set free

My God, my Saviour has ransomed me

And like a flood His mercy reigns

Unending love

Amazing grace