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THE MERCY LANE
The parable the Lord told of the Pharisee and the Publican who went into the temple to pray, clearly shows us the lane divinely fashioned for all of God’s people; meant to deliver to us all manner of delightful encounters. The Pharisee came into the temple to pray with all manner of self righteousness, trusting that he had worked so hard to earn God’s response. He anchored his acceptance before God on his ability to fast twice weekly, his addiction to tithing and his holy style of living.
As laudable as his points were; little did he know that we are not sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as of ourselves, our sufficiency is of the Lord. If your eyes are opened to behold the holiness and perfection of God; you will come to the conclusion that we really can’t work to earn anything from God. We all live by His mercies.
“It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassion fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness” Lamentations 3:22-23. We live by the mercies of God. It’s all because of what God chooses to see in our lives. Balaam spake to Balak in Numbers 23:21 and said – “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them”.
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It was sin that set the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, such that a journey of forty days had turned into a journey of forty years. At this point in time, God chose not to see all of that, He chose to overshadow them with His mercy.
The mercy of God withholds from us the punishment due us and bestows on us the goodness we don’t deserve. It is mercy that keeps us going; and nothing of ourselves. The Publican in our scripture text, locating himself on the path of God’s mercy prevailed with God; while the Pharisee, basking on his personal efforts and achievements before God, embraced rejection.
Many today are frustrated in the place of prayer because they have abandoned the mercy lane, seeking to have in on the strength of their prayer skills and articulate speeches. Locate the mercy lane and let divine goods locate you.