YAHWEH'S MOUTHPIECE

Walking out from Jericho and surrounded by a multitude with different desires, needs and purposes, the cry of a man away from the multitude rings loudly in His ears. That cry pulled a string in His heart, unlocking something in His depths, as though the man had His password. He couldn’t resist it and beckoned for the man to be called. He presented a blank cheque to the man, “What do you want me to do for you?”. “Done!”, was His response to the man’s request.

What string did Bartimaeus pull that touched the heart of Jesus?

I’ll call it the string of mercy, for He cried, “Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.” Like a master key, it turns the heart of Yahweh in our favour.

The Cry for Mercy. It is a cry that God doesn’t turn a deaf ear to, even in His wrath.

“This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles. Psalm 34:6

The only cry a poor man has is for mercy and help. And Jesus gave a parable of a Pharisee and a publican who both went up to the temple to pray. The publican returned home justified. He had only one petition – “Mercy”. The Pharisee had no petition, rather He came to make a promotion of Himself. He recounted the “good” things he does. And by God’s design, the strong don’t need to be helped, and the well don’t need healing.

When we cry for mercy, we make it known to the LORD that our trust is not in ourselves. The Psalmist said, “As the eyes of servants Look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; So our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, Until that he have mercy upon us.” (Psalm 123:2)

The protocol of God is that no flesh will glory in His presence. The glory of the flesh oozes a stench that repels God, but the brokenness of the spirit releases a fragrance that He cannot turn away from. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit (Psalm 51:17).

Mercy is God’s nature. When God unveiled His glory to Moses, He revealed Himself as God who keeps covenant and mercy with those who love Him and keep His commandments.

“And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”
Exodus 34:6-7

God’s covenant of mercy is everlasting. He keeps covenant and mercy with those who love Him and keep His commandments even to a thousand generations (Deuteronomy 7:9). In Bible terms, a generation is forty years. So God’s covenant of mercy endures for forty thousand years.

The mercy of God is everlasting. Though His judgement runs to the third and fourth generation of those who hate him, His mercy endures for a thousand generations. And so, mercy always prevails over judgment.

“I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.”
Isaiah 55:3

God made a covenant of mercy with David. He promised to not withdraw His mercy from his seed even though they err, establishing his kingdom forever. And so, even when God would have torn the kingdom completely from Solomon, He remembered His covenant with David and extended mercy.

Mercy is largely procured by the righteousness of One for the benefit of generations to come. And when Bartimaeus cried, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy”, the harp strings by which David pleasured God resounded in His heart and brought Him to the remembrance of His covenant.

When we pray for mercy, we bring forth the remembrance of the righteousness and obedience of Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross procuring favour unto us.

When Israel cried in Egypt, God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The cry for mercy provokes God to remember His words. The cry for mercy is holding on to God to remember His covenant.

When it looks like you are forgotten, deserted and forsaken cry for the mercy of God.

When Israel sinned in the wilderness and God would have wiped them off completely, Moses brought God in remembrance of His covenant by a prayer of mercy.

Mercy unlocks God’s favour and help. “Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.” (Psalm 102:13). The time for Israel’s deliverance came but the cry for mercy moved God to act for their deliverance even at the appointed time.

Mercy brings an end to fruitless struggles. “So then it is not of Him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.” Romans 9:16

And he says, come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy.

If there is a prayer you should pray today, it is “Lord have mercy upon me!” It is not only when you err that you need God’s mercy. “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed.” Your preservation is secured by the mercy of God.

Over that situation that is yet to be resolved, the access key is the mercy of the Lord.

Even right now, we all need the mercy of the Lord.