MERCY

O beautiful for heroes proved, in liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life!, America! America!, May God thy gold refine, Till all success, be nobleness, and every gain divine.  -“AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL,” THIRD VERSE, KATHERINE LEE BATES, 1893

MEDITATION

We enjoy the freedom to worship God and to pursue the desires He puts in our hearts because there have been heroes who believed those liberties were worth their lives. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Psalm 116:15). When a life lived for God is over, our hearts should compel us to look for God’s mercy. It is here. The plans and purposes of God matter most—and they are saturated in His mercy. 

For the greatest good of the highest number of people, God orchestrates His plans on earth. That’s what perfect love does. Look for the beauty of God’s mercy in everything. In our tribulations, we may not be given the discernment to trace His hand, but He will never be slack in sustaining us. “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not” (Lamentations 3:22).

The birth and life of the United States are God’s doing, and He can be trusted with our future. It’s up to us to surrender it to Him in prayer. We can’t know what lies ahead, but we can know the One who does. Jesus said, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). Our love for God, our compassion for one another, and our basic human need for community—an innate desire given to us by our Creator—are what will bind us together. “Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, just as we hope in You” (Psalm 33:22).

Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. –PROVERBS 3:3

(excerpt from GOD BLESS AMERICA Scriptures, Devotions & Prayers for Our Nation)