The Powerful Difference One Word Makes in a Bible Verse
My mind was blown when I read ONE WORD differently from a familiar Bible verse recently. Have you ever had that happen? It has to do with mercy–one of those things that’s often a lot easier to receive than it is to give.
So I had a little incident at work. A coworker was helping to complete the final step of a project one of my classes had been working on. It was a final step that fell squarely into that coworker’s lane of job responsibilities. I sent her an email with a detailed description of what I needed her to do, and then I even followed up with a phone call to make sure she understood the task at hand. Later that day, when I went to my coworker’s workspace to pick up the completed project, my stomach dropped. The job had not been completed according to my instructions, and now we had a time sensitive problem on our hands, without the proper resources available to successfully solve it.
I was not happy. And I was not proud of just how not happy I was. Another coworker friend walked into the room soon after my unfortunate discovery, and I promptly proceeded to vent and complain to her about my situation. (And embarrassingly, the sob story got repeated to a couple more people before I clocked out for the day.)
As I drove home that evening, I was still extremely frustrated that my clear, detailed instructions had somehow not been followed. Then, as I sat waiting at a red light, a little lightbulb turned on in my mind–or actually, it might have been in my heart. I realized, this is exactly how God could feel about me. Every single day. He gives me detailed instructions in the Bible on how to live according to His standards, which are all in my best interest. He even repeats and clarifies those guidelines throughout Scripture, as most of His instructions for Christ-like living are not stated just one time in just one way. And yet, I miss the mark. Every single day.
Do you think God sits up there in His throne room venting and complaining to Jesus and the angels about our mistakes? Or sits and stews, wondering how we could have misunderstood His clear guidelines on how to live? I don’t think so. One thing I know for sure is that God extends His mercy to me and to you when we mess up. When we recognize our mistakes, ask for forgiveness, and try to live differently, He is ready to forgive–in His love and mercy. Are we ready to do the same for other people? …and even for ourselves?
Perhaps one of the most well-known verses in the Bible is Micah 6:8. “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Have you ever noticed that verse doesn’t just direct us to show mercy to other people–it tells us to love mercy?! Yikes. What a huge difference that one little word makes! It’s not an easy charge. But to take things even one step further, in the next chapter of the same book, Micah 7:18 says about God, “You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.”
God clearly reminded me, while sitting at that red light, that no matter how frustrated I was with my coworker, I was called to not just show her mercy, but to love it and delight in doing so. And in that moment, you could 100% count me convicted. If you’ve ever struggled to give mercy to the people around you in the same way God gives mercy to you, maybe you can count yourself convicted, too.
Don’t just give mercy! Love it. Delight in it.