The Satisfying Mercy of God

TO satisfy us early with Thy mercy.” — Psa.m xc. 14.

Every life might be tested by its satisfactions. We should get its measures from its pleasures. What it regards as its bread would be an index of its strength. We say of some folk that they are “easily satisfied.” They have no cravings that are intense and far-reaching. Others seem to find satisfaction in vapid things, insipid things, things devoid of glowing vitality. Others again have low satisfactions. They are contented with tainted food. The nauseous offers them welcome delights. And all these satisfactions are self-revealing; they reveal the quality of our lives.

But what a scanty way is this of using the word ‘ satisfaction”?! It reminds me of a house which was not far from the home of my boyhood. I used to gaze upon it with boyish wonder and dread. It used to be said that the house had as many windows as there are weeks in the year, and as many panes of glass as there are days. I used to stand and count, and count, but I could only see two sides of the building, and I had to guess at the rest. But the weird thing was this, that the hermit who lived in the great house was said to use only one room. All the other rooms were locked up, and they were festooned with cobwebs and thick with dust. And there are folk who act like that in the many-roomed mansion of life. They occupy only one room, and the rest of the rooms are surrendered to dust and death. But what a small thing is this satisfaction of the one room when all the other chambers are crumbling in decay! And how low is the satisfaction which dwells in the basement when there are upper rooms, with invigorating air and sunshine, whose windows look out over large realms of spiritual inheritance! It is not worth calling satisfaction, for only a very small part of life is satisfied, and the rest is fast asleep.

But here is a man who is seeking satisfaction in the mercy of God. ‘“‘O satisfy me early with Thy mercy.” How much treasure there must be in that word “‘ mercy.” There is pity, and far more than pity. There is pardon, and far more than pardon. There is light, and far more than light. Mercy is far more than a healing touch which makes our leprosy drop away like an unclean garment. God’s gift of mercy is the gift of Himself. It is far more than a decree. It is far more than an amnesty proclaimed by one of His ambassadors. It is the Lord Himself coming to our life to abide with us as the secret of all spiritual emancipation and abiding health. And, therefore, when we think of God’s mercy we must think of something tremendous, something as great in its movement and issues as anything we can conceive. ‘‘ There’s a wideness in God’s mercy like the wideness of the sea.”

And it is because God’s mercy is just God that it fills the soul with the deepest and loftiest satisfaction. It is the incoming of a spiritual vitality which quickens all things. It is a river of water and life, and “* everything shall live whither the river cometh.” All the coronal powers of the soul awake, and it is in their wakefulness and activity that our soul begins to taste of satisfaction. It is the satisfaction of health. It is the satisfaction of moral aspiration and progress. God satisfies every craving with “‘ good things.”’

““O satisfy us early with Thy mercy.” I have somewhere read that Dr. Rainy once preached a mighty sermon on these words. The sermon had two divisions. And this was the first: ‘‘ Thy mercy — for nothing but Thy mercy will satisfy me.’ And this was the second division: ‘* Karly — for the sooner I get it the better.” Yes, the sooner the better! God’s mercy is satisfaction in the earliest morning of life, and it is satisfaction when the day is far spent and night is at hand.