The Reason for God’s Mercy

Reverend Leo H. McCrary II

God gives all of us chance after chance after chance, but why does He do that?

Today’s devotional reading: Ezekiel 20:1-26

Have you ever wondered why God is so merciful towards you? By all means, all of us, because we live in sin, ought to have been destroyed by the Lord a long time ago. Yet, here we are, still living and breathing.

Many of us will say that God is merciful towards us because we are His children. Many of us will say that God is merciful towards us because He loves us. Yes, the Lord certainly loves us, and the giving of His only begotten Son is proof of the love that the Lord has for the world and all who believe in Him. Yet, there is an even more certain reason why God does not consume His children, and it is the same as it was in ancient times.

God is merciful towards us, not because of anything that we have done, but because He has sworn to Himself. In Hebrews 6:13, it is said that when God made a promise to Abraham, He couldn’t swear by anything higher than Himself because what or who is higher than God? So, the writer of that epistle stated that God swore by Himself, on His own name. This means that the promises that God has made have not simply been made to us, but God has made an oath to Himself, by which He must be faithful.

Throughout this scripture in Ezekiel, when God could have truly embarrassed Israel because of their disobedience, He didn’t do it for His name’s sake. God gives us repeated opportunities for His name’s sake! God must be faithful, in His name, because if He chooses to do otherwise, He will not have simply failed us, He will have failed Himself. The one thing God will not do is fail, especially not Himself.