Faithful and Merciful

It was not the first time for me to run into deep waters of life. Several times before I have taken detour from the trajectory of life; sometimes as a result of personal failure and another times the reasons not known before or after.

January 21 reminded me of one such incident which could have been the end of me on earth. Please refer to my previous posts should you like to read about it. Click here.

However, when the valley of the shadows of death becomes the place where you spent more time with the faithful, in his mercy, it becomes the time you’d never forget. Not forget because it was too hard but because you can feel you are in the hand of someone whom you so trusted.

The joy and happiness coming out of my suffering I had already put it out here so many times. And I will do more, by the grace of God. The suffering and the pain at the time, or at that time, are unbearable but if that’s the way to feel the compassionate love of God, it is still worth it.

Some people, right after reading or hearing what I have to say told me, they wanted to feel it that way. But it’s a privilege to be in pain yet see the faithful God. The Lord is faithful; and that’s what he is.

The Bible tells us in 2 Timothy 2:13, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”

I’m no faithful follower of Christ yet he is so faithful. Yet I dared to be called the follower of him in his grace. He is so merciful that a chance upon chance are being given upon us. It is worth telling.

Not Consume in His Mercy:

The bible verse which I displayed in my home page, Lamentation 3: 22-25, speaks to my mind in my times of trouble. “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassion fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.”

When we hit a roadblock in our life, we tend to retrospect. In my retrospection and inspecting the past, I have found myself to be unworthy of the care and love of God. My actions and decisions are demeaning for him and diminish his name among friends and family.

As you too might be, I know myself, and I know I am simply good to let it be consume by the happenings of life. But in his mercy, only in his mercy, I am not consumed. I am not consume to see more of the faithfulness of him.

Not only we aren’t consume but we can have full hope in Him. And his righteousness fail not. His love and mercy endures forever.

With the Faithful Owner:

Let me insert herewith very short instances of my days tending to our water buffaloes. There are times when one among the herds got stuck in the mud slide after months of incessant rain in the region.

As the soil below the surface had loosened it is hard for the animal to climb out of the mud pit. At dusk when we counted and found our water buffalo missing we began our search operation. Once located, we toiled hard until we rescued the animal.

Sometimes we call for help as we need to dug a way out for the heavy animal. As the owner, we don’t want them t be consumed by the natural disaster to the extent we could. This just the act of ours as the owner.

In that way, the good shepherd did not want any of us to perish in the way once and before we accepted him as our Savior. How comforting are these words:

Jesus Christ said, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. (John 10:14-15).

Walking with the Faithful One:

Coming back to that day where I was rushed to ER, how my God had assembled help in the form of neighbors, relatives, and loved ones will be tales to tell. The smooth ride by ambulance, let me called it smooth since I remember none as I was unconscious throughout, which was really smooth was a true cause in handling and saving one’s life.

We walked with God in our everyday life but his faithfulness being shown while we’re in the valley of the shadow of death was more heart warming. It gives hope sending out and within the positive atmosphere at a go.

In his mercy, our time through the valley had been turned into a spring of water, which will nourished the mind throughout our here on earth. So, let us take courage and have hope in the Lord.

Faithful and Protective:

Fear is something that is hard to defeat as it normally cropped up from our mind. The evil one, in ways we can’t easily understand, tries sowing the seed of fear in our mind. And we did really fear our lives, although we may not confess anytime and anywhere.

In his faithfulness, our God is protective from the works of the evil should we seek help from him. The apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians as:
“The Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.” (2 Thess. 3:3)

The Lord will protect us in our pilgrimage, here on earth, and will lead us home to him when the day for us had come. The promises of being with him, those who are saved, was re-affirmed here, to those who have hope in him:

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” (Heb. 10:23)

In the end, I (we) have been thrown down before but the faithful Lord pulled me (us) up again because the Lord is merciful.

Give thanks to the Lord
For he is faithful
Give thanks to the Lord
For he is merciful
His love endures forever.