“…his mercy is everlasting…” (Psalm 100:5).
How many times have you seen this? This product comes with a lifetime warranty. You know the routine. The packaging conveys that the product will not fail. Yet, when you open that package, the fine print on legal writing indicates “lifetime” is really limited to a span of months to years.
My wife and I bought a mattress. The labels attached to the mattress said the mattress would not need turning. The mattress was even guaranteed to never need turning. Yet there were instructions included on how often and when to turn the mattress. The warranty also said the mattress would never sag. Yet the fine print stated that if it did sag you could bring the mattress to their facility about five hundred miles away. Yes, bring the mattress to them for inspection.
It is disappointing when the manufacturers explain one thing on the outside, and then the lawyers explain away things on the inside. It seems that manufacturers play with and twist words to their benefit, so the buyer must beware.
The psalmist in this closing trio of phrases makes a claim about the Lord. He states that the Lord’s mercy has a guarantee that exceeds a lifetime. His mercy will last longer than a lifetime guarantee. The mercy of the Lord is without termination. It is everlasting.
Lawyers and manufacturers can play games with words, but God does not. Know this, His mercy is everlasting.
God’s mercy is His response to our sin nature, trespasses, and transgression. When accusers point to our sin, God points to His mercy provided by Christ’s atonement. It is God’s mercy that preserves us from the certain doom reserved for mankind. It is God’s mercy that protects us from His wrath. It is God’s mercy that allows Him to remember our sin no more.
Our sin runs deep; His mercy runs deeper. His mercy is everlasting. When your failures are all you can see, His mercy sees beyond our failures. When it seems that all hope is gone, we see His mercy is everlasting. Jeremiah wrote that “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed” (Lamentations 3:22).
Today, you are not beyond the reach of His mercy. You are not capable of exhausting His mercy. No lawyer can modify the terms of the agreement. You and I will always need this everlasting mercy.
Solomon told his son in Proverbs three that the follower of Christ must wear mercy and truth like an ornament about their neck. We know God’s mercy is everlasting. What about you? Do you show mercy? Do you show mercy like you received mercy?
God’s mercy is everlasting. You will never out run it. You will never exhaust it. You will never be without access to His mercy.