The Great Mercy Of The Lord (2 Samuel 24:14)

 


Monday, 25 August, 2025


Psalm 135

2 Samuel 24:1-14

Acts 21:1-14


The Great Mercy Of The Lord (2 Samuel 24:14)


Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”


Both here in today’s first lesson, as well as with St Paul in our second, we read about men of God who feared God more than people. It is very noble and encouraging to read when other people are like this; but how would we be in the same situation?


We can see other people, we can hear them and smell them and feel the weight of chains and the cut of weapons. But God is invisible spirit, and can seem further away. To have courage in the face of danger we can see through faith in what we cannot is both a Christian privilege as well as our challenge.


Maybe our perception of distance plays into this – even just now I spoke of the physical being closer than the spiritual. Yet this is not how God is portrayed in the pages of Scripture; he is only ever as far away as we think him to be, when in reality he is always closer than we could ever imagine.


With our closeness to the physical, perhaps we need to relearn the relationship of distances when comparing the physical to the spiritual. If physical danger is close, God’s great mercy is always closer. Perhaps not in a way we could mark out with a tape measure, but certainly in a way we understand in our soul. Then perhaps one day we could be like King David, who would much rather fall into the hands of the Lord, whose mercy is great, or like St Paul, who was ready not only to be imprisoned but to die for the name of the Lord Jesus.


What threats do you currently perceive in your life? How is the Lord Jesus standing between you and those threats, protecting you in his great mercy?


Great and Merciful Lord, you draw us close to yourself and raise us up from danger: keep us safe in the spiritual, that we may be confident in the physical, for the sake of the name of our Lord Jesus.

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