Mercy and Judgment (Part 1)

On the occasion of assuming the throne of Israel, David wrote the 101st Psalm, which is regarded as the Psalm of the Magistrates. It is said that rulers, after David, read this Psalm on the day of their inauguration. It would certainly be a great beginning point for any administration. Contained within it, is the wisdom of a king and great guidelines by which to rule a kingdom. However, at the outset, as David takes his harp and begins to sing, he reflects upon his life and pronounces a mixed blessing. “I will sing,” David says, “of Mercy and Judgment.”

What a wonderfully strange mixture! When David looks across the landscape of his life and the events that have brought him to this place he is compelled to sing of both Mercy and Judgment. Hidden within the history of his life is a beautifully tapestry composed of both extremes of God’s love. One is the antithesis of the other. One exists on the opposite end of the spectrum from the other. But in the course of his life, David sees the two of them woven together in such a glorious harmony that it produces singing in his heart.

Mercy, taken alone is the obvious instigator of praise. It is the result of God’s blessing and his provision. Everything about mercy is wonderful and good. And one can easily see how David would sing, as he often does in the Psalms, of the wondrous mercies of God. Mercy is a magnificent thing and there is no doubt that this shepherd boy elevated to the throne had ample opportunity to rejoice in the glorious mercy of God.

But David doesn’t just sing of Mercy, he sings also of Judgment. This is much harder to understand. Judgment speaks of the wrath and chastisement of God. No doubt, as David looked back upon the course of his life he saw, mingled among the shining diamonds of Mercy, the dark lumps of Judgment. He remembers the times that God has chastised him. He sees dark moments when, because of his own pride or self-will, he defied the will of God and did things his own way. And he remembers, in vivid detail, the stinging rebuke and the painful punishment of judgment in his life. He remembers what it is to face the judgment of God.

In this critical moment of reflection, David recognizes that any life that knows Mercy will, inevitably, also know judgment. He recognizes that, even in the pain of judgment, there is the understanding that this is the price of Mercy. Had there been no judgment there would have been no mercy! Had God not loved him enough to hold him accountable for his wrongs, God would never have cared enough to deliver Mercy in his darkest hours.

Mercy and Judgment are on opposite ends of the spectrum of God’s love. But they work together in every life. Judgment, chastisement, and the impending threat of them provide boundaries in the life of a believer even as mercy and grace sustain and provide for us. If you took the time this evening to reflect upon your life, you would find the same comingling of Mercy and Judgment that inspired David to sing.

Across the fabric of your past you will see a bright and glorious thread of mercy, that reflects each time God has blessed you and delivered you. That wondrously golden thread of blessing and provision. But braided through the same life is the equally dark and bold thread of judgment. It doesn’t take us long to remember the hard times and difficult places that we got into by our own hand. When we were stubborn and stiff-necked and refused to heed the gentle call of God. We can all remember those times when Judgment compelled us to seek Mercy. When trouble and trial pushed us to our knees and compelled us to seek the face of God. Thank God for that dark thread of judgment in our lives, for it is the judgment of God that keeps us humble and watchful. It is the judgment of God that has taught us to depend on him. We’ve learned, over time, through the venue of our missteps that we can’t place our faith in our own abilities or resource. But we’ve discovered, by the same avenue, that the mercies of God are tender and lovely. And we can place our trust in him.

Judgment keeps us honest, it keeps us submitted to God. While Mercy, precious mercy, keeps us hopeful and confident in the grace of God. We live in a world and a generation that would like to strip God of his judgment. They want to serve and worship a God of mercy but deny that he is also a God of judgment. David understood what this generation has failed to grasp, without judgment there is no mercy. And where there is mercy, there will always exist, right along side of it Judgment. In David’s song, we find them bound together in praise. When they are mingled together in the life of a child of God they produce a reason for worship.

Thank God for Mercy AND Judgment.