Text: “Have
mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble; mine eye is consumed with grief,
yea, my soul and my belly (body).”
Psalm 31:9.
Good
morning, Christian in sore trouble! It
is not by ‘chance’ or ‘accident’ that you have rested your eyes upon this Bible
Lesson from God’s Word today, my friend.
We serve a Sovereign Lord God, Who knows to the very hairs of our head,
every detail of our lives, and all that we are currently going through in this
increasingly vile and sinful world of open depravity. Read on and be encouraged from God’s Word,
dear friend.
Dictionary Definition: Mercy - (noun) Forbearance towards someone in one’s power; a good thing regarded as derived from God; a happy chance; a forgiving disposition; clemency; compassion for the unfortunate. (The Chambers Dictionary, page 1005)
All things are under the power
and Divine Authority of the Living Lord God Jehovah. Nothing exists in all Creation which is not
under God’s Holy power. Therefore, as
fallen sinners each of us desperately need to have God’s mercy bestowed upon us
- otherwise we would be consumed in an instant by God’s Holiness, and our souls
turned away into a Christ-rejecter’s Hell.
God’s mercy to Hell-deserving
sinners is granted when we are given faith to trust in the Sacrifice of Christ
Jesus made at Calvary’s Cross. Without
God’s graciously given mercy, we would be utterly consumed indeed.
“The Lord is known by the
judgement which He executeth; the wicked (unrepentant sinner) is snared in the
work of his own hands. The wicked shall
be turned into Hell, and all the nations that forget God.” (Psalm 9:16-17)
“I tell you, Nay: but, except
ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish…I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent
(turn from sin to serve Christ) ye shall all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:3;5)
Adam fell into sin’s
destructive pit through disobedience to his Holy Creator Lord God - Eve ate of
the forbidden tree, encouraged Adam to follow suit; and they both died Spiritually
on that very day, and according to God’s clear warning.
“And the Lord God commanded
the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the
day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)
Eve and Adam disobeyed the
Lord’s command and, on that very day, the Spiritual part of our progenitors
immediately died. They became ‘fallen’
in sin; Spiritual communication and fellowship with their Creator Lord God was
broken - death was introduced into God’s perfect Creation, and although Adam
lived on, physically, until he was 130 years of age - Spiritually he had died
on the day of his disobedience.
As mankind’s Representative
Head, Adam plunged all of mankind to be born of woman into a fallen sinful,
Spiritually dead, state. That is why the
Lord God had to send His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer and die on
a cruel Cross to redeem, buy back, the souls of all whom the Father has elected
to Salvation. Outside of Christ’s
Atonement Sacrifice, there is no Eternal Salvation. We MUST be ‘born again’ of Him.
When quickened by God the Holy
Spirit, the first thing the sinner’s soul does is to cry out to God for His
mercy and grace. God calls us with His
irresistible grace, we answer with a cry of ‘Mercy!’, and the Lord God hears
our cry and saves our souls.
Verse 9. “Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in
trouble. This first sentence
pithily comprehends all that follows; it is the text for his lamenting
discourse. Misery moves mercy - no more
reasoning is needed. ‘Have mercy’ is the
prayer; the argument is as prevalent as it is plain and personal, ‘I am in
trouble.’” (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of
David, page 150)
Verse 9. “Mine eye is consumed with grief. Tears draw their salt from our
strength, and floods of them are very apt to consume the source from which they
spring. Dim and sunken eyes are plain
indicators of failing health. God would
have us tell Him the symptoms of our disease not for His information but to
show our sense of need. (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 150)
Every true regenerate
Christian has God, the Holy Spirit, living within us. When (not if!) we sin therefore, we
immediately and profoundly feel the grief we have caused God’s Holiness within,
and this in turn causes us to grieve deeply.
Saved souls sin every day, but we cannot stay or wallow in sin too long;
we cry out to the Lord to lift us a fresh out of the miry clay, and set our
feet on the Rock afresh. God hears our
cry and sanctifies us anew. Our
fellowship with Him is immediately restored, and we find peace in Christ. Praise His merciful Name! Glory to the Lamb Who hears our cry!
Thought: Verse 9.
“Yea, my soul and my belly (or body).
Soul and body are so
intimately united that one cannot decline without the other feeling it. We, in these days, are not strangers to the
double sinking which David describes; we have been faint with physical suffering
and distracted with mental distress; when two such seas meet, it is well for us
that the Pilot at the helm is at home in the midst of the water-floods and
makes storms to become the triumph of His art.”
(C.H.
Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 150)