Mercy that keeps on mercying

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let Israel now say, "His mercy endures forever." Let the house of Aaron now say, "His mercy endures forever." Let those who fear the LORD now say, "His mercy endures forever."  - Psalm 118v1-4

It seems like we talk about the mercy of the Lord a lot. I guess that is because the mercy of the Lord is a theme that comes up over and over in the Bible. This Psalm starts out repeating ‘His mercy endures forever’ three or four times. Psalm 136, I believe, repeats ‘His mercy endures forever’ in every single verse. The phrase is often preceded by the words ‘Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good…’

I think the reason that we hear this phrase so often is probably because we need to hear it. It is easy enough, in the midst of reality, to forget that God is truly good and that His mercy just keeps on and on. Like the Energiser (Duracell) bunny in the old ads, God’s mercy just keeps on going and going and going.

One would think that we might be able to use up God’s mercy. I was listening to a podcast recently about the potential for electric cars based on lithium. Lithium is a plentiful element which has the potential to make batteries both cheaper and less costly. The nice thing about lithium is that it is reusable, unlike fossil fuels which may one day run out and cannot be replaced; lithium batteries can be used over and over. It is a power source that won’t run dry.

Of course any illustration has its weaknesses, but this illustrates God’s mercy. We have all we need and it just keeps on working. Unlike batteries though God’s mercy never needs to be recharged – it just keeps on mercying because God is good. He is the energy source for His mercy and He is all powerful and unchanging.

Praise God for mercy which just keeps mercying.