3. Jehovah: The God of My Mercy! Psalm 59:10-17

Text: “Unto Thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy.”

Psalm 59:17.

Good morning, Christian recipient of God’s mercy!  God the Father elected you and I to be His gift for Salvation to God the Son – Jesus Christ.  God the Son took on the incarnate body of one of His creatures, lived a sinless life; suffered and bore the sin and punishment we deserved for it on the Cross; died a death that He alone could die as our Substitute; and, praise God, rose again from the dead on the third day, to justify you and I as His righteous people. 

In time, God the Holy Spirit quickened us from a dead sinful spirit, and we were ‘born again’, Spiritually regenerated by God, to be members of His Eternal Family.  Wow!  All this was done by Great Jehovah Lord God, the God of our mercy.  Hallelujah!  What a Lord God we love and serve!  Praise and thanks be to His Holy Name!  We love you, Three-Personed Creator, Lord God!

The Lord Jesus Christ teaches us: “All that the Father giveth Me (in Eternity, before the foundation of the world!) shall come to Me; and him/her that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from Heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.  And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.”  (John 6:37-39)

It is of great wonder that true Christianity has survived for so long, in a world that hates God, that seems to just LOVE religion, has often some form of ‘godliness’ – but in daily evidence, totally denies God’s Persons and His Almighty Holiness and power.  Fact.

Where We are at NOW:  This, which follows, is the evidence of what we, in British society today, see with our own eyes, and has been prophesied clearly for us, for hundreds of years: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent (no self-control), fierce despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God: having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”  (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

I challenge any Reader to deny that British society - and many other nations - is closely described in these prophetic verses from the second epistle of Timothy!  Our nations stink with this sin!  The watchman cries out the warning: turn, turn from your wickedness and repent!  Seek the mercy of Christ Jesus, before it is too late!  Turn from all wickedness!

“Thus, saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein (John 14:6), and ye shall find rest for your souls.  But they said, We will not walk therein.  Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet.  But they said, We will not hearken.  Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.  Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto My Words, nor to My Law, but rejected it.”  (Jeremiah 6:16-19)

Biblical Warning:  God’s Word cannot be more clear, Reader!  He has given all clear and proper warning; those that will not listen, and that will not seek repentance from sin and forgiveness, better get ready for what is surely to come: the fearful judgement of a Holy and rejected Lord God!  These are the very last of the last days, and the signs of Christ’s Second Coming are clearly at work as you read this Christian message!  Take heed and seek Christ!

With all this terrible evidence of sin and opposition to the Gospel message of Salvation in Christ alone – how can the true Christian believer continue amid such powerful opposition?  How has true Bible-believing, God-fearing, Christianity survived thus far?  There is only one answer to such profound questions – we fully believe in the God of our mercy!

Verse 9. “Because of His strength will I wait upon Thee: for God is my defence.  How weak soever the believer finds himself, and how powerful soever he perceives his enemy to be, it is all one to him, he hath no more to do but to put faith at work and to wait till God works.”  (David Dickson, 1583-1662)

Take Heed: Today, throughout our sin-laden world, Australia is on fire; China is wracked with a deadly, epidemic virus that is now a global pandemic; earthquakes are creating havoc and death in Turkey; floods are reported in many lands; plagues of locusts are devastating the crops in Africa; there is continual war and rumours of war throughout the Middle East, as Arab nations glare with seething anger at Israel – even the very environments in which we live are continually being polluted by human waste, oil spillages at sea, and drastic climate changes!  This is plain for all nations to see!  Human Government has failed humanity!  The end is indeed near!

“Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye KNOW that summer is nigh: So likewise, ye, when ye shall SEE all these things, KNOW that it is near, even at the doors.”  (Matthew 24:32-33)

America and Iran, Russia and the Ukraine – are at war, and stand almost ready to enter nuclear warfare!

“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers (various) places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginning of sorrows.”  (Mark 13:8)

“Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning...and what I say unto you I say unto all, WATCH.”  (Mark 13:37)

What then should genuine, Bible-believing Christians do in this terrible time of persecution and anti-Christian unbelief?  We must continue steadfastly looking to the Lord for His mercy and His grace, seek strength to persevere in shouting out God’s warning to the world - while it is still the day of His Sovereign grace to sinners.

Verse 10.  "The God of my mercy shall prevent me with the blessings of his goodness and the gifts of his mercy, prevent my fears, preserve my prayers, and be better to me than my own expectations."  (Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary on the Bible - Psalm 59:)

Verse 14. “Let them return...and let them make a noise like a dog. Those that repent of their sins when they are in trouble, mourn like doves; those whose hearts are hardened when they are in trouble, make a noise like a dog.”  (Matthew Henry 1662-1714)

Note the contrast in the Psalmist, David’s expectations, as hardened heart unbelievers ‘wander up and down’ in their dissatisfaction and increasing fear of God’s coming wrath:

Thought: Verse 16. “But I will sing of Thy power...sing aloud of Thy mercy.  Christian believers have God’s own Word as to His ever-given mercy towards us, ‘His people’.  Oh that all readers would turn from sin and seek peace with God – through the only Saviour, Jesus Christ.  This simple message is God’s own Word on the signs of the times.  Take heed!