The Tender Mercy of God

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“But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;
I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.”
— Psalms 52:8

Today, let us reflect on God’s tender mercy. The psalmist reminds us in Psalms 52:8 how the Lord, with an unparalleled love, mends the brokenhearted, soothes their wounds, and erases the scars of their emotional turmoil. Our God embodies grace in both the essence and demonstration of His unmatched compassion. His tender mercy is boundless, transcending all understanding. It is so vast that no one can measure its depths. With tender mercy, He forgives even the greatest sins of the greatest sinners. In addition, our God extends favor to those who may seem beyond redemption. By the transformative power of His love, He extends an invitation to good health and healing and restoration for all who seek it.

God’s tender mercy embodies true mercy, for it is mercy that we do not deserve. The notion of deserved mercy is a misnomer—it equates to justice rather than grace. God’s mercy is new every morning. We have done nothing to earn God’s tender mercy, and we have done everything to merit condemnation. Yet, in His infinite love, our heavenly Father chooses not to respond to our failings with wrath, but instead envelops us in His tender mercy. This profound truth should humble us and ignite a deep well of gratitude within our hearts.

God’s Compassion Prompted a New Covenant

With tender mercy, God has made a new covenant with the believer. He says,

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
— Hebrews 8:8-12

We had no inherent right to earn the profound kindness and gentle mercy of God. If He had chosen to condemn us to eternal fire, we would have deserved that fate. Yet, in His boundless and unfathomable love, He found within Himself the compelling reason to withhold judgment.

The tender mercy of God knows no bounds. Even though countless individuals have experienced His grace, it remains as abundant as ever, just as fresh and complete as the day He provided a lamb to cover Adam and Eve’s sins. As a result, His mercy is a constant source of hope. This everlasting compassion should inspire us, reassuring us and filling our hearts with a profound optimism for the future.