Because of Him, Not You

Because Of Him, Not You

O LORD, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in Your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief.” – Psalm 143:1

Have you ever tried to bargain with God?

How’d that go for you?

You’ve at least heard it if you haven’t said it yourself…

“God, if You get me out of this, I’ll never do XYZ again.”

It’s an interesting negotiation if you think about it. God gives us a command and we break it. We, justly, should be disciplined. However, our bargaining position is that if God doesn’t discipline us or, even more boldly, also removes the natural consequences of our sin, we won’t break His command again.

That’s not a bargain at all!

It’s really more of a threat, isn’t it? It implies that if God doesn’t save us that we will keep breaking His commands, all the more deserving those consequences.

David shows us a different way of asking God for mercy.

Rather than trying to convince God to show mercy because of something he (David) had done or some characteristic he (David) embodied, David appeals to God’s own characteristics and actions.

“in Your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief.

God is a God who loves to show mercy. He has said so, Himself. He also has made promises to love us, be with us, forgive us, etc. David appeals to this. He is basically saying,

“God, please listen to me and help me because that’s who you are. You are faithful and righteous even when we aren’t.”

We’re All Beggars
David’s approach is so much better than attempting to bargain with God. See, the truth is, we have nothing to bargain with. The most we can possibly offer is to try to be what He created us to be, holy, obedient, and righteous. That’s not adding anything. It’s like a chair being proud that it holds people up when they sit on it. That’s what it’s supposed to do. Furthermore, God knows we’re going to fail even at that.

Thankfully, God doesn’t show mercy because we deserve it or offer something worth the mercy. He shows mercy because He loves to show mercy. He helps us because He loves to help us.

This is shown most clearly on the cross. We didn’t do anything to deserve Jesus taking our punishment, quite the contrary. We deserved that punishment. Yet, there He was. As Jesus said,

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” – John 10:18

He chose to die on that cross because He wanted to save us. God puts it this way in Hebrews 12,

“[look] to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” – Hebrews 12:2

So, cry out to Jesus.

When you are in need, when you are in danger, when you are facing the consequences of your sin, cry out to Jesus. He will listen to your cry, not because you deserve it and not if you make the right offer, but because that’s who He is. He promised to be there for us, to help us, and to forgive us and God is faithful!

Dear Jesus,

I know I have nothing to offer You, yet You love me anyway. You are faithful and righteous.

If you have something for which you need to cry out to God, do it.

Amen.

In Christ’s Service,

Pastor Kurt