MERCY IN ABUNDANCE
Today's reading: Job 41-42

I can smell the coffee brewing.

I can feel the keys of the computer on my fingers.

I can see the fog beginning to lift off the fields.

I can hear the songbirds calling to each other.

I can taste the mint of the toothpaste I just used.

Already this morning God has been merciful to me!

"...I will not treat you as you deserve..." Job 42:8 NLT

I don't deserve to be allowed into His presence. I've done nothing that would warrant His acceptance. I've said nothing that would allow me special treatment from the King of Kings. I'm a no one in the grand scheme of things, a misfit really. He shouldn't love me.

"...I will not treat you as you deserve..." Job 42:8 NLT

I cannot pay Him back for His goodness. I'll never be able to thank Him enough for His blessings. I am incapable of serving in a way that glorifies Him as He deserves. I'm as far from perfect today as I was the day He met me at an altar in a small country church. He didn't have to forgive me.

"...I will not treat you as you deserve..." Job 42:8 NLT

Lightning doesn't strike with every bad thought my mind concocts. Judgement is not doled out on a scale for all to see when I sin. The only chains I am bound with are the ones I still allow. He does not carry around a clipboard and a red marking pencil awaiting my next foul-up. He doesn't have to allow me a purpose in His great plan.

He does not treat me as I deserve--and for that I offer praise and thanksgiving.