Surely Good & Mercy

Surely Goodness & Mercy
Don Vess

1 Samuel 13 NASB-  Saul was at war with the Philistines and things were not going well for him and his men. He was becoming impatient and had been waiting on the prophet Samuel to come and offer sacrifices to God and to seek Him on their behalf. He waited for Samuel for seven days and Samuel was delayed in coming. Saul became impatient and took it upon himself to offer burnt and peace offerings of which he was not authorized to do. Samuel, who was both a priest and a prophet was authorized and only he, not Saul. As soon as Saul had finished offering sacrifices, Samuel showed up. Saul went out to greet him. Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul said, “Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the appointed days, and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash, Therefore I said, “Now the philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not asked the favor of the Lord.’ So, I FORCED MYSELF and offered the burnt offering.

 Samuel said, “You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, for now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.

1 Sam 13:14 “But now your kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as a ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”

If you follow the story of David, you will see that though he was not perfect, His heart was always after God. In reading the Psalms, especially the 23rd Psalm, you see someone who was in tune with the Father’s heart.
In the narrative of his life, you see a man who carefully sought after God and who extended God’s heart to others.

In Ps 23:4 KJV- Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
David exhibited the characteristics of God in his mercy and dealing with those who were his enemies.

With Saul, who tried to kill him or get him killed on several occasions, who reneged on giving him his daughter Merab for his wife after he killed Goliath and instead raised the bounty by telling David he needed to go out and “fight the Lord’s battles”. Saul thought he would let the Philistines kill David and he wouldn’t have to. Saul then gave Merab to another man in stead of David. He then schemed to have David killed by offering him his second daughter Michal for his wife, but only after he brought him the foreskins of a hundred Philistines. David and his men went out and brought back 200 foreskins instead. So, Saul thought, I’ll give him Michal and let her be his downfall.

Still, David was loyal to Saul. Saul tried to pin David to the wall on several occasions, still David was loyal to him, because he knew that Saul was God’s anointed king and he would not rise up against him, but rather allow God to deal with him.

When the situation deteriorated to the point that David had to run from Saul for his life with Saul in hot pursuit. Twice, David had opportunity to kill Saul and enact vengeance upon him, but he showed mercy to Saul, because he was God’s anointed. When Saul and Jonathan, his son were killed in battle with the Philistines, he didn’t throw a celebratory party, instead, he and his men wept and fasted for days.

David had his shortcomings. His adultery with Bathsheba, the conspiracy of murder of Uriah, her husband, the attempted cover-up, and the confrontation from Nathan the prophet. David’s response to his sins being exposed was that he went before God in humility and repentance, Ps 51:1-4 NLT- Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of Your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. 2 Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. 3 For recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night. 4 Against You, and You alone, have sinned; I have done evil in Your sight. You will be proved right in what You say, and Your judgment against me is just.

Verse 7-11 reveals David’s heart after God—Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me—now let me rejoice. 9 Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. 11 Do not banish me from Your presence, and don’t take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Perhaps David was mindful of God’s mercy and forgiveness toward him and therefore he exhibited the same traits of mercy and goodness toward others.When Saul and Jonathan died, David remembered his covenant with Jonathan and sought out his son Mephibosheth and saw to it that he was provided for and well taken care of. When Amnon raped the sister of Absalom, David didn’t punish him as his sin deserved, perhaps because he had lost his moral authority because of his sin with Bathsheba. When Absalom enacted vengeance against Amnon by murdering him, David didn’t punish him.

When Absalom rebelled against David and took half the kingdom away from him and then sought to kill him. David desired to show mercy to him and grieved when Absalom was killed by Joab. When David was on the run from Absalom and was cursed by Shimei who was one of Saul’s relatives, he didn’t retaliate nor allow his officers to do it. He simply said, “My own son is trying to kill me. Doesn’t this relative of Saul have even more reason to do so? Leave him alone and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to do it. And perhaps the Lord will see that I am being wronged and will bless me because of these curses today.

Later on, when David had been restored as king over all of Israel, Shimei met him as he was getting ready to cross the river and fell down before David and begged for mercy. David’s officer, Abishai wanted to kill him, but David chose to forgive him and show him mercy. It was only on his death bed that David knew he had to eradicate his enemies if his son Solomon was going to succeed as king after him, so he instructed Solomon to deal with them. Joab was a disloyal scoundrel and one who was out to promote himself. David told Solomon to deal with him and he did.

However, David was a man after God’s own heart and one who walked in goodness and mercy. Jesus had many enemies who were constantly out to kill Him and finally succeeded in doing so. But he did not lift His voice against any of them.

1 Peter 2:21-25 NLT- For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps. 22 He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone. 23 He did not retaliate when He suffered. He left His case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly. 24 He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By His wounds you were healed.  This is what mercy looks like!

Colossians 3:12 KJV- Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

Bowels of Mercy: strange terminology in today’s vernacular. But it conveys a powerful message.   “It is a translation of two Greek words, splagnon and oiktirmos. Splagnon refers to the inner organs of a human body, or more specifically, the bowels. And the word oiktirmos, denotes compassion or a deeply felt urge to help relieve some kind of pain or sorrow.

When we think of “bowels” and how they move, you feel it deeply! When the process is done, the bowels have made a physical deposit and rid the body of human waste. The purpose of these feelings, however, is not superficial—they are a sign that the intestines are working to push waste through system and out of the body.

So, by using the word splagnon, Paul was saying that deep feeling of compassion should do more than just provoke pity for a person’s situation; they should spur you to action. When these feelings begin to well up deep within your spirit, you must surrender to them and let them work through your inner man until they manifest in words and actions. God will use you to touch the lives of others who are in need or suffering.
Note the order where “bowels of mercy” is placed in this passage! These same Greek words appear several times in the Gospels to describe when Jesus was “moved with compassion.”

Matt. 14:14 NKJV- And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick…

Matt 15:32-38 NKJV- Now Jesus called His disciples to Himself and said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”33 Then His disciples said to Him, “Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?”34 Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?”And they said, “Seven, and a few little fish.” 35 So He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. 36 And He took the seven loaves and the fish and gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to His disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitude. 37 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of the fragments that were left. 38 Now those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.

There were many more times: Matt 20:34 – the two blind men, Jesus was “moved with compassion” and healed them.
Mark 1:41-42 NKJV – a leper came to Him asking to be healed. “And moved with compassion, He stretched out His hand and touched him, and healed him.

Lk 7:12-15 NKJV …when He came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” 14 Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” 15 So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother.

Is there someone you know who needs a touch of God’s compassion? Maybe God has moved you in your spirit to do something and you are so compelled that you MUST respond. God has deposited that within you! Don’t shut off the “bowels of compassion within you! Maybe you are feeling compelled in your spirit to pray for someone, or to give to someone or to a particular need, or to do something that is totally out of the ordinary for you to do, like deliver a witness or a message from God.                                                        

The next attitude in Colossians 2:12 is Kindness, or Goodness. From the Greek word chrestostes: to show kindness or to be friendly to others. It depicts someone who strives to become adaptable to the needs of those around them rather than harshly requiring everyone else to adapt to their needs and deslike someone who says, “Excuse me, but if you don’t like me the way I am, that’s tough! This is the way I am, and if you don’t like it, you can just get out of here. I’m not changing for anyone!”

When the Holy Spirit produces “Kindness” in you, your entire mode of thinking will change. You’ll begin to be adaptable to change as the Holy Spirit works and reshapes the “you” inside of your person into the image of Jesus. You’ll begin to desire to think like Jesus, or to have the “Mind of Christ!” You’ll develop a whole new attitude! Paul calls this, “humbleness of mind!” It depicts someone who is humble, willing to take the lowly position, and stoop to do whatever is needed or asked of them. It shows the attitude of someone who is unpretentious and not self-promoting. There are more attitudes listed in this passage. We have only touched on two of them. I touched on the ones that David said would follow him all the days of his life, goodness (kindness) and Mercy (Compassion). David was saying that Goodness and Mercy “Shall FOLLOW HIM all the days of his life.” I.e, this would be his trademark in life.  

It should also be ours. We need not become “spiritually constipated” so to speak! But we should be freely moved by the Holy Spirit to action! Our hearts should be filled with kindness toward the lost and hurting around us. I am thankful for the kindness exhibited by this body of believers. I know of countless acts of kindness that have been displayed toward others who are hurting with monetary gifts, acts of service, displays of faith, prayers that are offered, and many more acts of compassion. Let me encourage you to continue and do more as the Holy Spirit so moves you!