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.

I have done right, and at times have had to suffer because of doing what was right. Being a follower of Christ may lead me into harms way. I certainly don't desire to experience hardship... and I don't believe that God WANTS me to suffer. Yet remaining strong in my faith may require me to go against the grain which does not make for a smooth finish. It is in times like these that my faith is refined; made pure. If everything is striped away and I am exposed... made vulnerable to the world around me what will I do? Will I give up?
I shared again with our men's group last night about this burden upon me to not give up. It seems in recent weeks I have heard sad story after sad story and most all have ended with the person giving up, or giving in to the pressures around them. Do we think that God does not know what we are going through... or that He does not care? Is it possible to push through no matter what the cost! I believe it is. The hardships in my life may not seem like much compared to the hardships experienced by others. But think about... how many hardships could be diverted from our lives by following Christ in the first place? The truth is many suffer the consequences of their own actions because their decision making process did not even consider God.
But wait there's more... The hardships I face at times come as a result of the stupidity of someone else and not of my own (and believe me I have enough of my own stupidity to deal with). Yet even knowing this I sometimes cry out 'where are you God?'. Well, God has been with me the whole time... He never left me. God gave me His Holy Spirit to companion me when I became a believer in Christ. Either I believe this or don't. The reality doesn't change that God is at work around me... and, oh, if I could only see behind the scenes of how God has protected my life from the suffering I could have experienced. The point for me is this: If I am faced with a bullet heading in my direction I may be spared, or I may not... I may live, or I may not. I will cry out to my Lord to give me strength to face whatever comes my way for I believe He is with me. I will not give up or give in... my God will be my strength.
My reading took me to 1 Kings, chapter 17. The prophet Elijah is directed to inform king Ahab that no rain or dew will be upon the land for the next few years. Elijah suffered like most everyone else yet he remained obedient to God.