mepastormike

I'm amazed at God's mercy. Mercy is not receiving what we do deserve. Grace is receiving what we do not deserve. I look back over my life and see all the potentially damaging things I have done (or the damage could have been much worse). I guess this goes along with what I was experiencing yesterday about not giving up. One incident that comes to my mind occurred nearly 20 years ago. I was working for an electrical company helping (learning) to do electrical work on new and existing structures. I really had very limited knowledge about what I was doing... and my attitude at the time was 'this is only a job' and I wasn't that interested in really learning the trade (a bad attitude to have when working with high voltage). We were working on a new addition to a high school and I was using a fish tape to pull wires through the conduit to the electrical panel. The pipe was nearly full with wire already so I was having to pull really hard, trying not to break the connection between the fish tape and the wire. While this was going on there were various other companies and tradesmen working throughout the building. In one attempt I went to push the fish tape and then give it a huge tug. When I did I touch the metal fish tape to the hot bars in the electrical panel and POW! There was a huge flash of light and I fell back to the ground... the entire building went black. It was only later that I discovered that just the day before the guy I was working for had come in to connect the ground to the box. If he had not done that I would probably not be here today. It was a Sunday that the guy did this extra work... something he rarely ever did.
Did I deserve to be electrocuted? No, but my attitude toward my work at the time afforded me the perfect conditions to become injured or killed... and perhaps to even hurt someone else. So if others could have known my heart (attitude) they might could have said 'he got what he deserved.'
My reading took me to 1 Kings, chapter 21. I read about king Ahab and his wife Jezebel... Wow, what a wicked couple! I'm amazed at the mercy shown to Ahab as recorded at the end of this chapter. Because Ahab expressed humility toward the Lord he was spared (shown mercy) from what he truly deserved. When I read this I'm thinking 'that's not fair.' How quickly I forget the mercy shown to me.
God, thank you for Your grace and mercy shown to my life. Teach me Your ways that I may not become hardened by the wrong done to me, and around me. I desire to love the way You love me... to show mercy to others like You have shown to me. - Amen.